On April 30, 1908,[2] 1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm reported to New York City along with 1st Lt. Thomas Selfridge and civilian balloonist Leo Stevens to familiarize 25 members of the First Company, Signal Corps, a unit of the 71st New York Infantry, in the use of hydrogen-filled kite balloons. The company was organized to provide the New York National Guard with an "aeronautical corps" for balloon observation, commanded by Major Oscar Erlandean.[3] By 1910 it had acquired a home-made aircraft using private funds and transported it to summer maneuvers, but it was not flown. The aircraft was destroyed in a crash but an airplane owned by Glenn Curtiss was flown during the 1912 summer maneuvers in Connecticut by Private Beckworth "Becky" Havens, a salesman for Curtiss. This group sometimes referred to itself as the "1st Aero Company" but was never authorized or officially recognized by either the State of New York nor the U.S. Army.[4]

The 102d traces its official lineage back to the 1st Aero Company, authorized by the governor of New York in October 1915 and organized in November by 1st Lieutenant Raynal C. Bolling as an unnumbered detachment of the First Battalion Signal Corps, New York National Guard, for aviation training at Mineola on Long Island.[5] The 1st Aero Company was provisionally recognized by the federal government in June 1916 and called to active duty between July 13, 1916, and November 15, 1916, to continue training with the purpose of joining the 1st Aero Squadron, a Regular Army unit deployed to Mexico with the Punitive Expedition. The 1st Aero Company, however, never left Long Island and was disbanded on May 23, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when the Army decided not to use national guard aviation units in the war effort. Its history and lineage were bestowed on the 102nd Observation Squadron.[4]

The Air Service 102d Aero Squadron was organized at Kelly Field, Texas, on 23 August 1917. The men engaged in construction activities, drilling, digging ditches, making roads, and putting up tents for new recruits arriving at the field. When athletics were started at the camp, the 102d organized a baseball team which was runners-up for the championship at the field. Once basic indoctrination training was completed, the 102d was ordered for overseas duty, being ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island. It arrived at Mineola Field on 3 November 1917 where it was prepared and equipped for overseas duty. On 23 November, the squadron, along with the 103d, 104th, and 105th Aero Squadrons were ordered to report to the Port of Entry, Hoboken, New Jersey for boarding on the former White Star LinerRMS Baltic for transport. After an uneventful Atlantic crossing, it arrived at Liverpool, England on 8 December 1917.[6]

After a few days at a Rest Camp near Winchester, England, the squadron moved to Le Havre, France, and then traveled by train to the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, St. Maixent Replacement Barracks, France, arriving on 18 January 1918. At St. Maixent, the 102d was used as a station squadron, as well as being trained in hiking, fatigue duty and guard duty. On 1 March, the squadron was ordered to report to the 2d Air Instructional Center (2d AIC), Tours Aerodrome, in central France. The men were assigned to nearly every department at the field, in the machine shops working on aircraft to the transportation department where the men drove trucks and all manner of vehicles. The squadron remained at 2d AIC until after the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, then returned to the United States in April 1918. Arrived at Mitchel Field, New York, where the squadron members were demobilized and returned to civilian life.[6][7]

Douglas O-38 102d Observation Squadron, New York National Guard and based at Miller Field, New Dorp, Staten Island, New York City, 1933. The squadron provided divisional aviation for the 27th Division, New York National Guard. Note squadron emblem on side of fuselage.

Constituted in 1920 as the 102nd Squadron (Observation), the squadron was assigned to the 27th Division, allotted to the state of New York, as its divisional aviation. The unit was organized in November 1921 from the "Observation Squadron, New York National Guard, which had been organized on 22 March 1921 at Hempstead, New York, with personnel from K Company, 14th Infantry, New York National Guard. It was reorganized and federally recognized in November 1922 at Miller Field on Staten Island and redesignated as the 102nd Observation Squadron in January 1923.[8]

During the inter-war years, the 102nd Observation Squadron flew a variety of aircraft but continued to serve as the aerial eyes for the Commander of the 27th Infantry Division, New York National Guard. One of America’s leading aces of the First World War, George A. Vaughan (9.5 victories) became one of the 102d’ Observation Squadron’s first commanders. He eventually became the 27th Division’s Air Officer.[9] In 1929, in a reorganization of the Army, it was relieved from permanent assignment to the 27th Division but remained attached to it for command and control purposes. In October 1933 it was assigned to an observation group for mobilization in case of war.[8]

Its operations were primarily air transportation and aircraft repair and maintenance. However, squadron elements were called up periodically by the state of New York to perform emergency duties that included reconnaissance for the Treasury Department of vessels conducting illegal-liquor trade off the New York-New Jersey coast in the 1920s; support of flood relief efforts in Vermont 6–16 November 1927; aid to civil authorities during a prison break from the maximum security Auburn Prison, 11–12 December 1930; and flood relief efforts in upstate New York 11–13 July 1935.[8]

Members of the 102d Observation Squadron stand in front of the unit's C-40 cargo plane while stationed at Ontario Army Arifield, California, during the summer of 1942.

The squadron conducted summer training annually at Pine Camp, New York, during the years 1921-40 where it generally supported the training of the 52nd Field Artillery Brigade, and performed other training at Miller Field and at Mitchel Field on Long Island.[8]

In 1936 it was consolidated with the demobilized 102nd Aero Squadron.[8]

In October 1940 the 102nd OS was inducted into active federal service at Miller Field as part of the United States Army Air Corps, relieved from assignment to its parent group, and assigned directly to the VII Corps. The Army relocated it to Fort McClellan, Alabama, shortly after its call up, then assigned it a year later to the 71st Observation Group. Initially it was assigned to antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron was moved to Southern California, flying antisubmarine patrols over the Los Angeles coast until November 1942.

Returned to Third Air Force control in late 1943, becoming a reconnaissance training unit for Army ground forces at Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Polk, Louisiana. Moved to the Desert Training Center in southern California in early 1944, continuing supplying reconnaissance training for Army units engaged in desert warfare training until April 1944 when the DTC was closed and the squadron was disbanded.

As part of the formation of the Air National Guard after World War II, the unit was reconstituted on 21 June 1945. The wartime 102d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was re-designated as the 102d Bombardment Squadron (Light), and was allotted to the New York Air National Guard, on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, and was extended federal recognition 21 March 1947 and activated by the National Guard Bureau. The 102d Bombardment Squadron was bestowed the lineage, history, honors, and colors of the 102d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron and all of its predecessor units. The squadron was equipped with B-26 Invader light bombers and was assigned to the NY ANG 106th Bombardment Group operationally gained by Tactical Air Command.

The mission of the 102d Bomb Squadron was proficiency in tactical bombing. Parts were no problem and many of the maintenance personnel were World War II veterans so readiness was quite high and the planes were often much better maintained than their USAF counterparts. In some ways, the postwar Air National Guard was almost like a flying country club and a pilot could often show up at the field, check out an aircraft and go flying. However, the unit also had regular military exercises that kept up proficiency and in gunnery and bombing contests they would often score at least as well or better than active-duty USAF units, given the fact that most ANG pilots were World War II combat veterans.

With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the regular military's complete lack of readiness, most of the Air National Guard was federalized placed on active duty on 1 February 1951. The 102d's B-26 light attack bombers were sent to Fifth Air Force in Japan for use in the Korean War, and the 106th Bomb Group was federalized and assigned to Strategic Air Command. On 28 March 1951, the Group was deployed less equipment to March Air Force Base, California. The 102d was re-equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and given the mission to train reservist crewmen to back-fill rotating B-29 combat crews serving in Korea. While the air guardsmen were undergoing training they were paid on the lesser reserve pay scale. The personnel and equipment at March were re-designated as the 320th Bombardment Wing in December 1952 and the 106th BG was returned to New York state control.

With its return to New York state control in 1953, the 106th was again equipped with B-26 Invaders, the aircraft being returned from combat duty in Korea. The 102d trained in proficiency with the attack bomber until the removal of the B-26 from bombing duties in 1956 as neared the end of their service lives.

The 106th was transferred from Tactical Air Command to Air Defense Command (ADC) and assumed an air defense mission over Long Island and New York City, entering the Jet Age with the limited all-weather F-94B Starfire interceptor. With the Starfire, the 102d began standing end of runway air defense alert, ready to launch interceptors if ADC Ground Intercept Radar picked up an unidentified target. The squadron stood air defense alert from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset every day, 365 days a year. In 1957, ADC upgraded the 102d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron to the all-weather F-86D Sabre Interceptor. With the receipt of the F-86D, the alert mission was extended to 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year.

In 1956, Lt. Col. Norma Parsons made military and National Guard history when she became the first woman member of the National Guard, the first woman member of the Air National Guard, and the first woman to be commissioned in the Air National Guard.[10]

In 1958, the 106th FIG was reassigned to Military Air Transport Service (MATS), trading in its Sabre interceptors for 4-engined C-97 Stratofreighter transports, being allocated to the MATS Eastern Transport Air Force (EASTAF). The 106th worked closely with the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Transport Group at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, a regular Air Force unit.

Initially equipped with specialized MC-119J Flying Boxcars configured for transport of wounded and injured, the 102d Aeromedical Transport Squadron airlifted critically injured and sick personnel until 1964. With air transportation recognized as a critical wartime need, the 102d was re-designated the 102d Air Transport Squadron (Heavy) in January 1964 and equipped with C-97 Stratofreighter heavy transports.. With the C-97s, the 102d augmented MATS airlift capability worldwide in support of the Air Force’s needs in Europe. It also flew scheduled MATS transport missions to Europe, Africa the Caribbean and South America.

With the acquisition of KC-97 Stratotankers from Strategic Air Command, the 104th was transferred back to Tactical Air Command in September 1969 and the 106th became an air refueling group. Its mission was to provide aireal refueling to tactical fighters. With the KC-97 being a variant of the C-97 Stratofreighter the conversion of the unit from transports to refueling aircraft was easily accomplished, the squadron receiving the KC-97Ls with addition of jet engine pods mounted to the outboard wings. It rotated personnel and aircraft to West Germany as part of Operation Creek Party, a continuous rotational mission flying from Rhein Main Air Base, West Germany, providing air refueling to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) tactical aircraft. The success of this operation, which would continue until 1972, demonstrated the ability of the Air National Guard to perform significant day-to-day missions without being mobilized.

In 1969, the Air Force closed Suffolk County Air Force Base and the NYANG relocated there. The 102d Air Refueling Squadron returned to Air Defense Command in 1972 and again became an air defense unit. The 102d was re-equipped with the F-102A Delta Dagger, which was being replaced in the active duty interceptor force by the F-106. The Mach-2 "Deuce", still a very potent interceptor, served with the 106th FIG until June 1975, when Aerospace Defense Command was reducing the USAF interceptor force as the threat of Soviet Bombers attacking the United States was deemed remote.

The 102d converted to an Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in 1975, flying Sikorsky HH-3E rescue helicopters and HC-130 Hercules tankers for in-flight refueling. The squadron’s base on Long Island enables it to act as the only Air Force rescue organization in the northeastern United States. It upgraded its inventory to provide a capability for long range over-water missions using the aerial refueling capabilities of the HC-130s and Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters.

After the midair explosion of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" in 1986, the 106th Rescue Wing was designated to provide support for every shuttle launch thereafter.

In October 1991, an HH-60 and a tanker flew to an endangered sailboat about 250 miles south of its base. The Pave Hawk and HC-130 dropped survival gear to the vessel, which was riding out the storm, and began their return to base. Both aircraft encountered severe weather conditions and the helicopter was unable to take on fuel. The HH-60 was forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles south of the base in what would later become known as "the Perfect Storm", and all but one member of the crew were saved by the crew of the United States Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa. TSGT Alden Smith, a pararescueman (PJ), lost his life fulfilling the squadron's motto That Others May Live. The mission was recounted in both a best selling book and major motion picture.

The 102d RQS received international recognition when two aircrews and PJs of the squadron successfully completed the "longest over-water rescue with a helicopter in aviation history" in December 1994, a mission in which a pair of HH-60s flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then 750 miles out over the Atlantic Ocean to search for survivors of the Ukrainian cargo ship Salvador Allende. A search of the area located the last survivor, and PJ TSGT James Dougherty jumped into the ocean to effect the rescue. During the 15-hour mission, the two helicopter crews were refueled in flight 10 times by HC-130s.

The 106th Rescue Wing has assisted the state in battling the 1995 "Sunrise Wildfires" in the Hamptons, they were first on the scene after the crash of TWA Flight 800, and the recovery of the wreckage from the plane flown by John F. Kennedy, Jr., which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 1999. The squadron located the transponder of the wreckage of the plane underwater.

In 1998, the wing carried out the longest over-water rescue mission in an HH-60, saved one soul, made famous by the book: Pararescue, The Untold Story of a rescue and the heroes that pulled it off, written by Michael Hirsh.

On September 11, 2001, the first ANG personnel on scene at World Trade Center were those of the 106th Rescue Wing.

1.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

2.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year

3.
Air National Guard
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When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States and they are jointly administered by the states and the National Guard Bureau, a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the National Guard of the United States. The ANG of the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands have no aircraft assigned, ANG units typically operate under Title 32 USC. However, when operating under Title 10 USC all ANG units are operationally-gained by an active duty USAF major command. ANG units of the Combat Air Forces based in the Continental United States, conversely, CONUS-based ANG units in the Mobility Air Forces, plus the Puerto Rico ANGs airlift wing and the Virgin Islands ANGs civil engineering squadron are gained by the Air Mobility Command. The vast majority of ANG units fall under either ACC or AMC, established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U. S. S. When not in a status, the Air National Guard operates under their respective state. The exception to rule is the District of Columbia Air National Guard. Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, Air National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency. The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service, even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, often serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only one weekend a month, the Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 Joint STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard transitioned from flying the F-15C/D Eagle at St and these proposals were eventually overruled and cancelled by the U. S. Congress. As state militia units, the units in the Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command and they are under the jurisdiction of the United States National Guard Bureau unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. Air National Guard units are trained and equipped by the United States Air Force, the state ANG units, depending on their mission, are operationally gained by a major command of the USAF if federalized. Air National Guard personnel are expected to adhere to the moral and physical standards as their full-time active duty Air Force. The same ranks and insignia of the U. S. Air Force are used by the Air National Guard, the Air National Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in a service members home state or equivalent. The creation of the regiments was caused by the perceived need to defend the Bay Colony against American Indians. This organization formed the basis of subsequent colonial and, post-independence, state and this distinction accounts for why there are no National Guard components in the U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps or U. S. Coast Guard

4.
New York Air National Guard
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The New York Air National Guard is the air force militia of the State of New York, United States of America. It is, along with the New York Army National Guard, as state militia units, the units in the New York Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New York though the office of the New York Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The New York Air National Guard is headquartered at Stratton Air National Guard Base, Glenville, NY, under the Total Force concept, New York Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components of the United States Air Force. New York ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of public services. The New York Air National Guard is the largest and most diverse ANG organization established by the National Guard Bureau, the unit is an associate Wing with the Air Force Reserve 914th Airlift Wing. The 109th Airlift Wing is the unit in the world to fly these aircraft. Support Unit Functions and Capabilities, 152d Air Operations Group Located at Hancock Field, Syracuse and it has two levels of control, at the larger force level, or at the detailed unit level. It is used to generate the Air Tasking Order and it replaced the Contingency Theater Automated Planning System. Eastern Air Defense Sector Located at Rome, NY, the origins date to 1956 as the 4621st Air Defense Wing. It is one of two sectors that carries out NORADs aerospace warning and control mission, the Eastern Air Defense Sector is part of the U. S. There are also Canadian and Alaskan NORAD regions and this unit also provides direct support for the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program. The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, if federalized by Presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units, the New York Air National Guard origins date to 28 August 1917 with the establishment of the 102d Aero Squadron as part of the World War I American Expeditionary Force. Its origins begin however, on 30 April 1908 as the 1st Aero Company and its history and lineage were bestowed on the 102d Observation Squadron. The 102d Aero Squadron was demobilized 1918 Armistice with Germany in 1919, constituted in 1920 as the 102nd Squadron, the squadron was assigned to the 27th Division, allotted to the state of New York, as its divisional aviation. It was reorganized and federally recognized in November 1922 at Miller Field on Staten Island and it is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II

5.
Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base
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Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base is a former air defense military installation collocated to use runways with the Westhampton, New York, municipal airport. The Suffolk County Army Air Field was built in 1943 as a United States Army Air Forces sub-base of nearby Mitchel Field, later assigned to First Air Force, the 437th Army Air Force Base Unit defended the New York City area and flew antisubmarine patrols. Post-war, the airfield was conveyed to Suffolk County for use as a civilian airport, renamed when the United States Air Force reclaimed the airport in 1951, Suffolk County Air Force Base was part of the Eastern Air Defense Forces defense of the NYC metro area. In 1972, the 102d switched to F-102 Delta Daggers and became the 102d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, in 1975, the unit had another mission change and became an Aerospace Rescue and Recovery squadron, later renamed the 102nd Rescue Squadron in 1995. Today, the 106th Rescue Wing uses HC-130P Hercules and HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters for both peacetime and combat search and rescue

6.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing

7.
Operation Enduring Freedom
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Operation Enduring Freedom comprises several subordinate operations, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, lasted from October 2001 to 31 December 2014. Government used the term Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan to officially describe the War in Afghanistan, continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States military forces, both non-combat and combat, now occur under the name Operation Freedoms Sentinel. In September 2001, U. S. President George W, the term OEF-A typically refers to the phase of the War in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Other operations, such as the Georgia Train and Equip Program, are loosely or nominally connected. All the operations, however, have a focus on counterterrorism activities, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, which was a joint U. S. U. K. and Afghan operation, was separate from the International Security Assistance Force, which was an operation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations including the U. S. and the U. K. The two operations ran in parallel, although it had suggested that they merge. S. and British ships. The initial military objectives of OEF-A, as articulated by President George W, of those groups included are Abu Sayyaf Group, al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The operation consisted of training the AFP in counter-terrorist operations as well as supporting the people with humanitarian aid in Operation Smiles. In October 2002, the Combined Task Force 150 and United States military Special Forces established themselves in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier, the stated goals of the operation were to provide humanitarian aid and patrol the Horn of Africa to reduce the abilities of terrorist organizations in the region. The military aspect involves coalition forces searching and boarding ships entering the region for illegal cargo as well as providing training, the humanitarian aspect involves building schools, clinics and water wells to enforce the confidence of the local people. Since 2001, the expenditure by the U. S. government on Operation Enduring Freedom has exceeded $150 billion. The operation continues, with military direction mostly coming from United States Central Command, seizing upon a power vacuum after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan after their invasion, the Taliban assumed the role of government from 1996–2001. Their extreme interpretation of Islamic law prompted them to ban music, television, sports, and dancing, amputation was an accepted form of punishment for stealing, and public executions could often be seen at the Kabul football stadium. Womens rights groups around the world were frequently critical as the Taliban banned women from appearing in public or holding many jobs outside the home and they drew further criticism when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan, historical statues nearly 1500 years old, because the Buddhas were considered idols. In 1996, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan upon the invitation of the Northern Alliance leader Abdur Rabb ur Rasool Sayyaf, when the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001 and it has been suggested that the Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections. On 20 September 2001, the U. S. stated that Osama bin Laden was behind the 11 September attacks in 2001, the US made a five-point ultimatum to the Taliban, Deliver to the U. S

8.
106th Rescue Wing
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The 106th Rescue Wing is a unit of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, Westhampton Beach, New York. If activated to service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command. The 102d Rescue Squadron, assigned to the 106th Operations Group of the 106th RQW, is a descendant organization of the World War I 102d Aero Squadron, established on 23 August 1917. The squadron has a history going back to 30 April 1908, the 106th Rescue Wing deploys worldwide to provide combat search and rescue coverage for U. S. and allied forces. During peacetime, the unit also provides search and rescue services to the maritime community, moved to RAF Boreham England, February–March 1944, and assigned to Ninth Air Force. Their group marking was a diagonal band across the fin. When the first Martin B-26 Marauders of the Group arrived some hardstands, Operations commenced only 12 days after the majority of the group arrived with the initial mission being flown on 23 March. In the weeks that followed, the 394th was repeatedly sent to attack bridges in occupied France and the Low Countries, there was no break in operations at this critical period when the Saint-Lô offensive was underway. It was during an attack on 9 August that the Lead B-26. Piloted by Captain Darrell Lindsey, was hit by flak and the engine set alight. Although knowing that the tanks were likely to catch fire and explode. Lindsey did not escape before the aircraft crashed, the award of a posthumous Medal of Honor was the only occasion that this highest US award for bravery went to a Ninth Air Force bomber crewman living in the ETO. All told, six 394th B-26s were lost in operations from Holmsley South, the groups aircraft began to move to the airfield at Tour-en-Bessin in France on 21 August and the last personnel left Holmesley South on the 31st. On the continent the group hit strong points at Brest and then began to operate against targets in Germany, took part in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945, by hitting communications to deprive the enemy of supplies and reinforcements. Bombed transportation, storage facilities, and other objectives until the war ended, by VE-Day, the 394th was based at Venlo in the southeastern Netherlands. The group remained in the theater to serve with United States Air Forces in Europe as part of the army of occupation at Kitzingen and it was transferred, without personnel and equipment, to the United States on 15 February 1946 and was inactivated on 31 March 1946. The wartime 394th Bombardment Group was re-designated as the 106th Bombardment Group and it was organized at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, and was extended federal recognition on 21 March 1947 and activated by the National Guard Bureau. The 106th Bombardment Group was bestowed the lineage, history, honors and it was assigned to the NY Air National Guard 52d Fighter Wing

9.
HC-130 Hercules
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The HC-130H Hercules and HC-130J Hercules versions are operated by the United States Coast Guard in a SAR and maritime reconnaissance role. The HC-130P Combat King and HC-130J Combat King II models are operated by the United States Air Force for long-range SAR and CSAR, in this latter role, they are primarily used to extend the range and endurance of combat search and rescue helicopters. In July 2015, it was announced that the U. S. Forest Service will be receiving some of the U. S, the United States Coast Guard was the first recipient of the HC-130 variant. Six USCG HC-130E aircraft were produced in 1964, but production switched to the new C-130H platform which was entering service. The first HC-130H flew on 8 December 1964 and the USCG still operates this aircraft, first flown in 1964, the USAF HC-130P Combat King aircraft has served many roles and missions. They were also modified to employ the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, although this system has since been discontinued. The HC-130N was an order without the Fulton recovery system. The aircraft can routinely fly low-level NVG tactical flight profiles to avoid detection, other capabilities are extended visual and electronic searches over land or water, tactical airborne radar approaches and unimproved airfield operations. A team of three Pararescuemen, trained in emergency medicine, harsh environment survival and assisted evasion techniques, is part of the basic mission crew complement. HC-130P/N aircraft of the Combat Air Forces are currently undergoing extensive modifications, like their USAF counterparts, USCG HC-130s also have the capability of air dropping rescue equipment to survivors at sea or over open terrain. The MC-130P Combat Shadow series of aircraft initially entered service in December 1965 during the Vietnam War as the HC-130H CROWN airborne controller, the CROWN airborne controllers located downed aircrew and directed Combat Search and Rescue operations over North Vietnam. In February 1996, AFSOCs 28-aircraft tanker fleet was redesignated the MC-130P Combat Shadow, at the same time as this redesignation, USAF continued to field HC-130P/N aircraft as dedicated CSAR platforms under the Air Combat Command. The new HC-130J aircraft are derived from the Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker operated by the U. S. Marine Corps, the USCG has six HC-130Js in service, but they are not capable of refueling helicopters in flight. The first delivery of this variant to the United States Coast Guard was in October 2003, the first of these modified Coast Guard HC-130Js was delivered in March 2008. The HC-130J Combat King II is also capable of itself being refueled in flight by boom-equipped tankers, Lockheed Martin officials conducted the first flight of the USAF HC-130J version on 29 July 2010. The first HC-130J was delivered to the USAF in September 2010, the HC-130J personnel recovery aircraft completed developmental testing on 14 March 2011. The final test point was air-to-air refueling, and was the first ever boom refueling of a C-130 where the aircraft’s refueling receiver was installed during aircraft production and this test procedure also applied to the MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft in production for Air Force Special Operations Command. The first HC-130J was delivered to the 563d Rescue Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the Coast Guard also currently operates an additional 6 HC-130J aircraft from CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina

10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany

11.
New York National Guard
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The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs is responsible for the states New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, New York Guard and the New York Naval Militia. It is headed by Adjutant General of New York Major General Patrick A. Murphy, with the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo serving as Commander in Chief of the states militia forces. It is part of the New York State Executive Department, all of the armories in New York State are run directly or indirectly by the DMNA. In fact, the National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a state status and those functions range from limited actions during non-emergency situations to full scale law enforcement of martial law when local law enforcement officials can no longer maintain civil control. The Governor may call individuals or units of the New York National Guard into state service during emergencies or to assist in situations which lend themselves to use of the National Guard. The state mission assigned to the National Guard is, To provide trained and disciplined forces for domestic emergencies or as provided by state law. The National Guard may be called into service in response to a call by the President or Congress. When National Guard troops are called to service, the President serves as Commander-in-Chief. The federal mission assigned to the National Guard is, To provide properly trained and equipped units for prompt mobilization for war, unlike United States Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually, but only as part of their respective units. However, there have been a significant number of activations to support military operations. The state defense force, which in New York is the New York Guard, is a military entity authorized by both the State Code of New York and executive order. The New York Guard is the state’s authorized militia and assumes the state mission of the New York National Guard in the event the Guard is mobilized. The New York Guard comprises retired active and reserve personnel and selected professional persons who volunteer their time. Karl F. Hausauer, Major General, circ,1949 The New York Aid to Civil Authority Medal is an award of the State of New York given to the New York State Organized Militia. The New York Aid to Civil Authority Ribbon is awarded any member of the New York Organized Militia who performs any period of active duty. For each succeeding award, a device will be attached to the suspension ribbon. These devices shall be, Silver gold The New York Counterdrug Ribbon is an award of the New York National Guard, the New York Counterdrug Ribbon is awarded to any member of the New York State Organized Militia who satisfactorily completes thirty days of service related to counter-drug operations. Time spent at the National Interagency Counterdrug Institute does not count towards this awards eligibility requirement, the New York Exercise Support Ribbon is a decoration of the state of New York awarded to members of the New York National Guard

12.
United States Army National Guard
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The Army National Guard, in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is a militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations, the National Guard of the states, territories and the District of Columbia. The Army National Guard is divided into units stationed in each of the 50 states. Members or units of the Army National Guard may be ordered, temporarily or indefinitely, if mobilized for federal service, the member or unit becomes part of the Army National Guard of the United States, which is a reserve component of the United States Army. Individuals volunteering for active service may do so subject to the consent of their governors. Governors generally cannot veto involuntary activations of individuals or units for federal service, the President may also call up members and units of the Army National Guard, in its status as the militia of the several states, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or enforce federal laws. The Army National Guard of the United States is one of two organizations administered by the National Guard Bureau, the other being the Air National Guard of the United States. The Director of the Army National Guard is the head of the organization, Militia members were required to equip themselves, take part in regular training, and report to their units when called. This war resulted in hundreds of deaths, hundreds of Native Americans sold into slavery or scattered throughout North America, the militias of the Southern New England colonies fought Native Americans again in King Philips War from 1675 to 1676. This conflict led to the defeat of the Narragansets, further straining relationships between Native Americans and white Europeans, but enabling continued white settlement of New England. In addition, the colonists had little interest in paying the taxes to maintain permanent garrisons of British troops, the militias were also an early experiment in democracy, with company grade officers often elected by their men, and the higher officers appointed by colonial governors or legislatures. The colonies did not exert centralized control over the militias or coordinate their efforts, Training typically took place during musters each summer, with militia members reporting for inspection and undergoing several days of training in drill and ceremony. Militia members served throughout the Revolution, often near their homes, Militia units served in combat, as well as carrying out guard duty for prisoners, garrisoning of forts, and local patrols. On some occasions, militia members performed ineffectively, as at the Battle of Camden in North Carolina, on other occasions they performed capably, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle of Bennington, Battles of Saratoga, and Battle of Cowpens. Perhaps the most important role played by the militia was off the battlefield, during the period of the Articles of Confederation, the weak federal government reduced the Continental Army to a handful of officers and soldiers. The Articles of Confederation required each state to maintain a militia, such consent was not forthcoming in an era when the population still harbored a distrust of a standing army, so Congress largely left the defense of the new nation to the state militias. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Federalist delegates argued for a federal government. Federalists anticipated using the military to defend the country if it were attacked, anti-Federalists advocated limited federal government, and wanted continued state control over the militias

13.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan

14.
Frank P. Lahm
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Frank Purdy Lahm was an American aviation pioneer, the nations first military aviator, and a general officer in the United States Army Air Corps and Army Air Forces. Lahm developed an interest in flying from his father, a balloonist and he met the Wright Brothers in 1907 and used his interest in powered flight to become the Armys first certified pilot in 1909, followed four years later by becoming its 14th rated Military Aviator. In 1916 he became an aviator, serving in the United States Army Air Service and its successors until his retirement in 1941 at the age of 64. Lahm reached mandatory retirement age on the eve of United States participation in World War II and he was the grandson of Samuel Lahm, a Canton lawyer and Ohio congressman, and related through his grandmother to Daniel Webster. His mother died unexpectedly in March 1880 while giving birth to a third child and his father had been in poor health for five years, and on the advice of doctors, undertook a trip to Southern France, Italy, and Switzerland in October to improve his condition. Lahm, then two, and his four-year-old sister Katherine were left in the care of relatives, soon after culminating his recovery by scaling the Matterhorn in August 1881, Frank S. Lahm became the European agent for the Remington Typewriter Company. He resided in Paris until his death in 1931, the elder Lahm kept his family connected to one another through frequent correspondence, visits, and educating each child for a year in France. Lahms father made annual visits to a home he had purchased in 1877 in Summit County, Ohio. Katherine lived with their aunt, Helen Lahm Greenwood, in Canton, Ohio, studied in France and at Smith College, and married an Army officer, Frank Parker, who retired as a major general in 1936. Lahm lived in Mansfield with another aunt, Mary Purdy Welden, in high school, he excelled as an athlete, lettering in both football and baseball, until his father brought him to France in 1893. There he attended Albert-le-Grand, a Dominican school near Paris, France, between 1895 and 1897, Lahm spent two years at Michigan Military Academy preparing for West Point. There he was Lieutenant of the Corps and valedictorian of his class, although he graduated in the top fifth of his class, he found time for athletics. He held the rope climbing record at West Point, and his enthusiasm for horse riding led him into the cavalry on his graduation in 1901, while at USMA he quarterbacked the football team and was captain of the baseball team. He set several records in gymnastics and he was commissioned second lieutenant, 6th Cavalry, and campaigned in the Philippines for two years. He toured China, Korea, and Japan during his return to the United States in 1903 and he spent his summer leaves in France with his father, who taught him to fly balloons in the summer of 1904. In 1906 he was assigned to attend the École Impériale de Cavalerie at Saumur, Lahms father joined the Aéro-Club de France in 1902, purchased a balloon he named the Katherine Hamilton in honor of his daughter, and qualified for his balloon pilots certificate in November 1904. The elder Lahm made frequent flights and initiated his son during an ascension in stormy weather. On July 15 of the same summer Lahm was promoted to first lieutenant, the race, commencing at the Tuileries Garden in Paris, was actually a distance competition across the English Channel

15.
Thomas Selfridge
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Thomas Etholen Selfridge was a first lieutenant in the U. S. Army. He became the first person to die in the crash of an airplane as a passenger on a demonstration flight piloted by Orville Wright. Selfridge was born on February 8,1882 in San Francisco and he was the grandson of Rear Admiral Thomas Oliver Selfridge Sr. He graduated from United States Military Academy in 1903 and received his commission in the Artillery Corps and he was 31st in a class of 96, Douglas MacArthur was first. In 1906 Selfridge, a native San Franciscan, was stationed at the Presidio during the earthquake in April. His unit participated in search and rescue as well as clean up, in 1907 he was assigned to the Aeronautical Division, U. S. Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia. There, he was one of three pilots trained to fly the Army Dirigible Number One, purchased in July,1908 from Thomas Scott Baldwin. He was also the United States government representative to the Aerial Experiment Association, which was chaired by Alexander Graham Bell, Selfridge took his first flight on December 6,1907, on Bells tetrahedral kite, the Cygnet, made of 3,393 winged cells. It took him 168 feet in the air above Bras dOr Lake in Nova Scotia, Canada and this was the first recorded flight carrying a passenger of any heavier-than-air craft in Canada. He also flew a craft built by a Canadian engineer, Frederick W. Baldwin, Selfridge designed Red Wing, the Aerial Experiment Associations first powered aircraft. Red Wing was destroyed in a crash on its flight on March 17,1908. Between May 19 and August 3,1908, he made a number of flights at Hammondsport, culminating in a flight of one minute, the next day his final solo flight of fifty seconds went 800 yards. Although not fully trained as a pilot, nevertheless Selfridge was the first U. S. military officer to fly any airplane solo. In August 1908, Selfridge, along with Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm, the dirigible was scheduled to fly from Fort Omaha, Nebraska, to exhibitions at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri, with Foulois and Selfridge as the pilots. However, the Army had also agreed to purchase an airplane from the Wright Brothers and had scheduled the acceptance trials in September. Selfridge, with an interest in both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air ships, obtained an appointment and traveled to Fort Myer, Virginia. When Orville Wright came to Fort Myer to demonstrate the Wright Flyer for the US Army Signal Corps division, on September 17,1908, the Wright Flyer circled Fort Myer 4½ times at 150 feet. Halfway through the circuit, at 5,14 in the afternoon

16.
Albert Leo Stevens
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Albert Leo Stevens was a pioneering balloonist. He was born on March 9,1873 or 1877 in Cleveland and he began making balloon ascensions in 1889 at age 12, and began manufacturing balloons and dirigibles at the age of 20 in 1893. In 1895 he made his first parachute jump from a church spire in Montreal and he participated in the Gordon Bennett Balloon Races. He flew one of the very first dirigibles in the United States in 1906 and he opened the first private airfield in the nation in 1909. Stevens also played a key role in the development of safety features for parachutes, on July 8,1911 he ascended in a balloon from the Wanamakers store in New York City heading toward Philadelphia, but he landed in West Nyack, New York. During World War I he was a US Army instructor and he died on May 8,1944 at age 67. There is the Leo Stevens Award, the National Air and Space Museum houses the Leo Stevens Glass Plate Photography Collection, 1900-1915. Albert Leo Stevens from the Library of Congress at Flickr Commons The Otsego Farmer Tributes Paid to A, Leo Stevens by Aerialist May 12,1944

17.
71st New York Infantry
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The 71st Infantry Regiment is an organization of the New York State Guard. Formerly, the 71st Infantry was a regiment of the New York State Militia, the regiment was not renumbered during the 1918 national reorganization, and never received a National Guard number. In the fall of 1849, the Order of United Americans, related to the Know Nothing Party, the 71st New York was formed on October 23,1850 and was called The American Rifles and later The American Guard. Originally, the founders, J. M. Parker, Hamilton W. Fish, Sr, Hamilton W. Fish, Jr. initially there were six companies recruited. One officer in A Company, Captain Parker, resigned after hearing a foreigner paraded with the American Rifles, in Spring 1852, the American Rifles had eight companies, enough to be enrolled as a regiment of the state militia, and were assigned the regimental number of 71st. Its first commander was Colonel Abraham S. Vosburgh, previously its quartermaster, Vosburgh would remain commanding officer until his death on May 20,1861. Henry P. Martin, previously adjutant, became lieutenant colonel in 1854 and he would remain with the 71st through the first years of the Civil War. Its arsenal was located at Seventh Avenue and 35th Street, the regiment became the American Guard in 1853 when their Ogden long rifles were replaced with muskets, which could carry bayonets. These, in turn, were replaced with Minie rifles in 1857, on July 4,1857, the regiment, along with the seventh New York, served as riot control personnel during the riots in the Sixth Ward between the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys. During this action, Dead Rabbit leader Mickey Free was killed, the regiment was called into action again during the quarantine riot of September 1858 in Staten Island. In 1858, the Light Guard, New Yorks oldest military unit, detached from the 55th New York and this led to some tension, because the Light Guard had several foreigners in the ranks. On April 16,1861,380 men mustered under Colonel Vosburgh at the State Arsenal, on April 21, the 71st paraded down Broadway and headed to the front. The 71st, then called to service for three months under Colonel Henry P. Martin, arrived in Washington on May 21,1861 and was bivouacked at the Washington Navy Yard. While the army assembled, a made up of members of the regiment defeated the Washington Nationals baseball club by a score of 41 to 13. The regiment took part in the occupation of Alexandria, Virginia, in May 1861, accompanying the New York Fire Zouaves and Colonel Ephraim E. Ellsworth, a detachment of the 71st, with two howitzers, fought at Acquia Creek and Port Tobacco in May and June 1861. Private Charles B. Hall was the first man injured on any U. S. vessel in the war, the 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry was organized in the Second Brigade of the Second Division. On July 21,1861, the 71st Infantry, under Colonel Martins command, the 71st supported the advance of the 2nd Rhode Island against Wheats battalion. The Illustrated London News noted The militia stood firm, firing and loading as if it were on parade, Colonel Burnsides after-action report of July 24,1861, noted, It was nearly 4 oclock p. m. when I was ordered to protect the retreat

18.
Observation balloon
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An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, historically, observation balloons were filled with hydrogen. The balloons were fabric envelopes filled with gas, whose flammable nature led to the destruction of hundreds of balloons on both sides. Observers manning these observation balloons frequently had to use a parachute to evacuate their balloon when it came under attack, to avoid the potentially flammable consequences of hydrogen, observation balloons after World War I were often filled with non-flammable helium. Typically, balloons were tethered to a cable attached to a winch that reeled the gasbag to its desired height. The first military use of balloons was by the French Aerostatic Corps during the French Revolutionary Wars. The oldest preserved observation balloon, LIntrépide, is on display in a Vienna museum and they were also used by both sides during the American Civil War and continued in use during the Franco-Prussian War. Balloons were first deployed by the British Armys Royal Engineers during the expeditions to Bechuanaland in 1884 and they were also deployed during the Second Boer War, where they were used in artillery observation at the Battle of Magersfontein and during the Siege of Ladysmith. World War I was the point for the military use of observation balloons. The British, despite their experience in late 1800s Africa, were behind developments and were using spherical balloons. These were quickly replaced by more advanced types, known as kite balloons, the Germans first developed the Parseval-Siegsfeld type balloon, and the French soon responded with the Caquot type. By World War I, artillery had developed to the point where it was capable of engaging targets beyond the range of a ground-based observer. Positioning artillery observers on balloons, generally a few miles behind the front lines and at altitude and this allowed the artillery to take advantage of its increased range. Because of their importance as observation platforms, balloons were defended by guns, groups of machine guns for low altitude defence. Attacking a balloon was a risky venture but some pilots relished the challenge, many expert balloon busters were careful not to go below 1,000 feet in order to avoid exposure to anti-aircraft guns and machine-guns. World War I observation crews were the first to use parachutes, when the balloonist jumped, the main part of the parachute was pulled from the bag, with the shroud lines first, followed by the main canopy. This type of parachute was first adopted by the Germans and then later by the British, kite balloons began to be used at sea for anti-submarine purposes towards the end of World War I. Observation balloons also played a role during the Cold War, for example, however, heavier-than-air craft now performed the vast majority of operations

19.
Glenn Curtiss
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Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U. S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships, in 1908 Curtiss joined the Aerial Experiment Association, a pioneering research group, founded by Alexander Graham Bell at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia to build flying machines. Curtiss made the first officially witnessed flight in North America, won a race at the worlds first international air meet in France and his contributions in designing and building aircraft led to the formation of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. His company built aircraft for the U. S. Army and Navy, Curtiss civil and military aircraft were predominant in the inter-war and World War II eras. Curtiss was born in 1878 in Hammondsport, New York to Frank Richmond Curtiss, although his formal education extended only to Grade 8, his early interest in mechanics and inventions was evident at his first job at the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in Rochester, New York. He invented a stencil machine adopted at the plant and later built a camera to study photography. On March 7,1898, Curtiss married Lena Pearl Neff, daughter of Guy L. Neff and Jenny M. Potter, in Hammondsport, New York. They had two children, Carlton N. Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss Curtiss began his career as a Western Union bicycle messenger, a bicycle racer, in 1901, he developed an interest in motorcycles when internal combustion engines became more available. In 1902, Curtiss began manufacturing motorcycles with his own single-cylinder engines and his first motorcycles carburetor was adapted from a tomato soup can containing a gauze screen to pull the gasoline up via capillary action. In 1903, he set a land speed record at 64 miles per hour for one mile. Corson of the Hendee Mfg Co visited Hammondsport in July 1904, corsons motorcycles had just been trounced the week before by Hell Rider Curtiss in an endurance race from New York to Cambridge, Maryland. In 1907, Curtiss set an world record of 136.36 miles per hour, on a 40 horsepower 269 cu in V8-powered motorcycle of his own design and construction in Ormond Beach. The air-cooled F-head engine was intended for use in aircraft and he would remain the fastest man in the world, the title the newspapers gave him, until 1911, and his motorcycle record was not broken until 1930. This motorcycle is now in the Smithsonian Institution, Curtisss success at racing strengthened his reputation as a leading maker of high-performance motorcycles and engines. In 1904, Curtiss became a supplier of engines for the California aeronaut Tom Baldwin, in that same year, Baldwins California Arrow, powered by a Curtiss 9 HP V-twin motorcycle engine, became the first successful dirigible in America. In 1907, Alexander Graham Bell invited Curtiss to develop an engine for heavier-than-air flight experimentation. Bell regarded Curtiss as the greatest motor expert in the country, between 1908 and 1910, the AEA produced four aircraft, each one an improvement over the last

20.
Raynal Bolling
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Raynal Cawthorne Bolling was the first high-ranking officer of the United States Army to be killed in combat in World War I. A corporate lawyer by vocation, he became an early Army aviator and he was the namesake of Bolling Air Force Base. Bolling was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but from 1911 he was a resident of Greenwich, in 1912, he commissioned the architects Carrère and Hastings to build him a mansion, called Greyledge, on Doubling Road. The estate was razed in 2007 by its current owner despite a public outcry and he attended the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, graduating in 1896. He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1900 and from the Harvard Law School in 1902, Bolling was an attorney at Guthrie, Cravath, and Henderson. A little after a year there he began his career in the department of the United States Steel Corporation. By 1907 he was assistant general solicitor and married Anna Tucker Phillips, June 25,1907 in Beverly and she was the sister of William Phillips, a prominent career diplomat. He also joined the New York National Guard and he and his wife had four daughters and a son, one of whom, Cecelia Raynal Bolling, died in infancy. In 1913 he was named general counsel of US Steel at the age of 36, by the end of July, Millman reported several of his students including Bolling were ready to try for their American Aero Club license. Despite a long delay caused by lack of a landing ground nearby. Bolling also arranged for use of the American Aero Clubs six-person balloon, in September, after the Plattsburgh encampment was over, Bolling began preparations for organizing an aero company for the guard. He secured the services of three additional flying instructors and began recruiting personnel, in November 1915, Bolling was appointed as a first lieutenant in the New York National Guard and organized the Aviation Detachment, First Battalion Signal Corps, National Guard, New York. The pilots of the company were prominent young New Yorkers, many of whom had already had some instruction over the summer. Within a month, half of the 48 states had applied to the ACA for financial assistance in purchasing aircraft, flying instruction began immediately at Garden City Aerodrome, with 56 flights in November alone. Throughout the winter of 1915-1916 the 1st Aero Company conducted flying operations, the company returned its rented trainers to Gallaudet and acquired five more of disparate manufacture and age, including purchase of a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. In addition, the company attended weekly classes in aircraft engines, the company, commanded by now-Captain Bolling, was mustered into federal service on July 13,1916, and began a five-week encampment. Bolling passed a flying test for a pilots license on October 25. 536, and passed the Reserve Military Aviator qualification test, intended for service in Mexico, the 1st Aero Company never left Long Island but did train 25 of its own members as pilots before mustering out of federal service in November 1916

21.
101st Signal Battalion (United States)
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The 101st Signal Battalion, headquartered in Yonkers, New York, is an Echelons Above Corps Signal Unit of the New York Army National Guard. It is subordinate to the 53rd Troop Command, the mission of the 101st Signal Battalion is to provide and manage communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. Signal support includes Network Operations and management of the electromagnetic spectrum, Signal support encompasses designing, installing, maintaining, and managing information networks, to include communications links, computers, and other components of local and wide area networks. Organized 6 December 1886 and 29 December 1894, in the New York National Guard at New York and Brooklyn, respectively, as the Provisional Signal Corps of the 1st and 2d Brigades. Following this, the units were restructured and on 11 November 1892, were designated the Provisional Signal and Telegraph Corps of the 1st and 2d Brigades, after three years, on 10 January 1895, they were redesignated as the 1st and 2d Signal Corps. Another restructuring occurred on 23 July 1903, becoming the 1st and 2d companies, following this, they consolidated on 7 February 1914, as the 1st Battalion, Signal Corps. Following this, they were called into service on 18 June 1916. They were redesignated as the 102d Field Signal Battalion and were assigned to the 27th Division on 1 October 1917 and they were demobilized on 31 March 1919 at Camp Upton, New York. After this, they consolidated with the 1st Battalion, Signal Corps, the consolidated unit reorganized into the New York National Guard as the 1st Battalion, Signal Corps, headquarters was recognized federally on 3 May 1921, in New York. The 1st Battalion, Signal Corps, was redesignated 1 June 1921 as the 101st Signal Battalion, inducted into federal service 13 January 1941 at home stations, furthermore deactivated 8 December 1945 at Camp Stoneman, California. The first battalion was reorganized and federally recognized 16 October 1947 with headquarters at Yonkers, after this, they were redesignated on 1 March 1950, as the 101st Signal Battalion. Meritorious Unit Commendation, Streamer embroidered KOREA, philippine Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer embroidered 17 October 1944 to 4 July 1945. Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer embroidered KOREA

22.
Mineola, New York
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Mineola is a village in Nassau County, Long Island, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census, the name is derived from an Algonquin word meaning a pleasant place. Most of the Incorporated Village of Mineola is in the Town of North Hempstead, Old Country Road runs along the villages southern border. The area serviced by the Mineola Post Office extends farther south into the adjacent village of Garden City, New York, offices of many Nassau County agencies are in both Mineola and Garden City. The central, flat, grassy part of Long Island was originally named Hempstead Plains, in the 19th century various communities were started. One of them was called Hempstead Branch, and finally, Mineola, Long Island was part of Henry Hudsons original claim in the name of the Dutch East India Company dating as far back as 1609. In the 18th century the Dutch and English settlers worked to clear farmland to start their life on the Hempstead Plains and it was in 1858 when this land was named after an Algonquin Indian Chief, Miniolagamika meaning, Pleasant Village. The name was shortened and altered to Mineola. From about 1787 until the 1870s, the area was the county seat for Queens County, in a section known as Clowesville. The western portion of Queens became a borough of New York City in 1898, voters selected Mineola to be the county seat for the new county of Nassau in November 1898, winning out over Hicksville and Hempstead. The Garden City Company donated four acres of land for the county buildings just south of the Mineola train station, Mineola officially became the County Seat on July 13,1900, as Governor Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Nassau County Court House. A celebration was held to commemorate the occasion on the barren 5-acre site at the corner of Old Country Road, many dignitaries were present to witness this event such as Frederick Hicks, Congressman Townsend Scudder, Colonel William Youngs and Supervisors William Jones and Edwin Willits. Mineola was legally incorporated in 1906 and run by a president, the land on which the County buildings sat was not included as part of the village. The land and the buildings have a Mineola postal address, but are within the present day Village of Garden City, winthrop-University Hospital, founded in 1896 by local physicians and residents as Nassau Hospital, was Long Islands first voluntary hospital. In 1897, it admitted 91 patients, performed 27 operations, the original hospital was constructed in 1900. Renamed Winthrop in the 1980s, it is now a nationally recognized award-winning hospital, Mineola was also a familiar place to many of the most famous pilots in history. The Aero Club of America chose the area for the level plains, glenn Curtiss brought the area to national attention in July 1909 with his second Scientific American Award flight of over 23 minutes and 15 miles. He also made some of the first public flights in America in his Golden Flyer and it was the Guards first genuine aviation unit

23.
Long Island
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Long Island is an island located just off the northeast coast of the United States and a region within the U. S. state of New York. Stretching east-northeast from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties, Kings and Queens to the west, then Nassau, more generally, Long Island may also refer collectively both to the main Island as well as its nearby, surrounding outer barrier islands. North of the island is the Long Island Sound, across from which lie the states of Connecticut, across the Sound, to the northwest, lies Westchester County on mainland New York. To the west, Long Island is separated from the Bronx and the island of Manhattan by the East River. To the extreme southwest, it is separated from the New York City borough of Staten Island and the U. S. state of New Jersey by Upper New York Bay, the Narrows, to the east lie Block Island and numerous smaller islands. Its population density is 5,595.1 inhabitants per square mile, Long Island is culturally and ethnically diverse. Some of the wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods in the Western Hemisphere are located on Long Island, nine bridges and 13 tunnels connect Brooklyn and Queens to the three other boroughs of New York City. Ferries connect Suffolk County northward across Long Island Sound to the state of Connecticut, the Long Island Rail Road is the busiest commuter railroad in North America and operates 24/7. At the time of European contact, the Lenape people inhabited the western end of Long Island, giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with the Lenapes, after entering what is now New York Bay in 1524. In 1609, the English navigator Henry Hudson explored the harbor, adriaen Block followed in 1615 and is credited as the first European to determine that both Manhattan and Long Island are islands. Native American land deeds recorded by the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as Sewanhaka, sewan was one of the terms for wampum, and is also translated as loose or scattered, which may refer either to the wampum or to Long Island. The name t Lange Eylandt alias Matouwacs appears in Dutch maps from the 1650s, later, the English referred to the land as Nassau Island, after the Dutch Prince William of Nassau, Prince of Orange. It is unclear when the name Nassau Island was discontinued, the very first settlements on Long Island were by settlers from England and its colonies in present-day New England. Lion Gardiner settled nearby Gardiners Island, the first settlement on the geographic Long Island itself was on October 21,1640, when Southold was established by the Rev. John Youngs and settlers from New Haven, Connecticut. Peter Hallock, one of the settlers, drew the long straw and was granted the honor to step ashore first and he is considered the first New World settler on Long Island. Southampton was settled in the same year, Hempstead followed in 1644, East Hampton in 1648, Huntington in 1653, and Brookhaven in 1655. While the eastern region of Long Island was first settled by the English, until 1664, the jurisdiction of Long Island was split, roughly at the present border between Nassau County and Suffolk County. The Dutch founded six towns in present-day Brooklyn beginning in 1645 and these included, Brooklyn, Gravesend, Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Bushwick

24.
1st Reconnaissance Squadron
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The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the 9th Operations Group, Beale Air Force Base, California. The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is the United States militarys oldest flying unit, the squadron has maintained an unbroken heritage of over a century from its founding. The 1st RS has flown 47 different aircraft while being stationed worldwide at 52 locations, the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is responsible for training all High-Altitude Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance aircrew for the U-2S Dragon Lady and the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Aircrew members consist of pilots and mission planners for the U-2S, training for all U-2S pilots includes additional qualification in the T-38A Talon, the companion trainer to the U-2S. The squadron flies over 5,400 U-2S/T-38A training hours and 2,400 RQ-4 combat support hours annually and this flight training program produces 24 U-2S pilots,48 RQ-4 pilots, and 36 RQ-4 sensor operators annually. The Chief Signal officer approved a table of organization for the unit on 7 January 1914, at the time of its formation, 1st Company consisted of Burgess Model H tractors S. C. 9,24,25, and 26, while 2nd Company consisted of Curtiss aircraft S. C, the initial composition of the squadron was short three pilots. A fatal crash occurred on 12 August, followed by a crash on 5 September after protests about its safety were overruled by squadron commander Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois. During the Mexican Revolution, hundreds of Pancho Villas horsemen crossed the United States border and raided Columbus, the town was looted and burned, and 17 Americans were killed. Wilson then ordered General John J. Pershing to pursue and disperse, despite the shortcomings, the squadron was ordered to send all available aircraft, pilots and personnel to support Pershing. There would be neither replacements nor a reserve, the squadron disassembled its aircraft and left Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, by train on 13 March. Two days later it arrived in Columbus with eight Curtiss JN-3 aircraft,11 pilots and 82 enlisted men, from Columbus, the squadron flew its first reconnaissance sortie on 16 March. On 19 March 1916, the squadron received orders to fly into Mexico, shortly after 17,00 the planes took off but one returned almost immediately with engine problems. Darkness proved a challenge and none of the aircraft completed the movement on the first day. Four landed near La Ascension, about halfway to destination, and completed the flight the next morning, another aircraft overflew Casas Grandes in the dark and landed in the desert, where it was destroyed by vandals. Two others landed in the short of Casas Grandes, where one continued on the next morning. Pershing had only five operational airplanes available for immediate duty and it was found that the squadrons 90 horsepower Curtiss JN-3 airplanes were unable to climb over the 10,000 to 12, 000-foot mountains of the region or overcome the high winds of the passes through them. Dust storms frequently grounded the aircraft and wooden propellers de-laminated in the heat, using its base in Columbus, the 1st Aero Squadron concentrated on carrying mail and dispatches between Columbus and Pershings Army columns moving south into Mexico

25.
Punitive Expedition
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A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, in the 1st century AD, Germanicus engaged in punitive expeditions against the Germanic tribes as repercussion for the Roman Legions that were destroyed in the Battle of Teutonburg Forest. In the 13th century, Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, often engaged punitive expeditions, some notable examples include his invasion of Khwarazim and his campaigns against the Western Xia kingdom. Also in the 13th century, Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis, the ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, Kertanagara, refused to pay tribute and tattooed a Chinese messenger, Meng Qi, on his face. A punitive expedition sent by Kublai Khan arrived off the coast of Java in 1293, Jayakatwang, a rebel from Kediri, had killed Kertanagara by that time. The Mongols allied with Raden Wijaya of Majapahit against Jayakatwang and, once the Singhasari kingdom was destroyed, Wijaya turned against the Mongols and forced them to withdraw in confusion. In 1599 the Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate ordered his nephew Vicente de Zaldívar to engage in an expedition against the Keres natives of Acoma Pueblo. When the Spanish arrived, they fought a battle with the Keres leaving about 800 men, women and children dead. During the First Anglo-Powhatan War, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, lord de la Warr waged a punitive campaign to subdue the Powhatan after they had killed the colony’s council president, John Ratcliffe. His tactics against the Indians proved effective and included raiding their villages, burning their homes, torching their cornfields and crops, in the summer of 1614, Ottomans led by Damat Halil Pasha engaged a successful punitive expedition against Sefer Dāyl, an insurgent in Tripoli. From 1838 to 1842 ships of the United States Exploring Expedition engaged in three expeditions against Pacific islanders. The 1842 Ivory Coast Expedition was led by Matthew C. Perry against the Bereby people of West Africa after two attacks on American merchant ships. The Battle of Kabul in 1842 was undertaken by the British against the Afghans following their disastrous retreat from Kabul in which 16,000 people were killed, the French Campaign against Korea in 1866, a response to the earlier execution by Korea of French priests proselytizing in Korea. The 1867 Formosa Expedition, a punitive operation of the United States. The United States expedition to Korea in 1871, in retaliation to the General Sherman incident, the 1874 Japanese expedition against Formosa. Benin Expedition of 1897 British punitive action that led to the annexation of the Kingdom of Benin, the New York Times reported on January 13,1897 that a punitive expedition would be formed to punish the murderers of the Benin City expedition. The Pancho Villa Expedition from 1916 to 1917, led by General John J. Pershing, was an operation in retaliation against Pancho Villas incursion into United States, the 2016 Indo-Pakistani military confrontation began with punitive surgical strikes carried out by India. Letter of marque and reprisal Gordon, Leonard, japans Abortive Colonial Venture in Taiwan,1874

26.
Nieuport 28
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The Nieuport 28 C.1 was a French biplane fighter aircraft flown during World War I, built by Nieuport and designed by Gustave Delage. The Nieuport 17 line was already being supplanted in French service by the SPAD S. VII as quickly as supplies of the Hispano-Suiza engine would allow. The Nieuport 28 design advanced the concept of the lightly built, ailerons, controlled with torque tubes were fitted to the lower wings only. Production machines had an intermediate configuration, with a slight dihedral in the wing, taller cabane struts. The results of these tests facilitated the development of the Nieuport 29. In late 1918, about the time that the type was withdrawn from front line use, the U. S. Army placed an order for an additional 600 improved Nieuport 28s, although these were mainly intended as advanced trainers, early problems with the SPAD S. The Nieuport 28A was to feature an upper wing leading edge structure. On the other hand, the United States Army Air Service was desperately short of fighters to equip its projected pursuit squadrons. Since the SPAD S. XIIIs the Americans actually wanted were initially due to engine shortages. A total of 297 Nieuport 28s were purchased by the Americans, the 94th and 95th Aero Squadron received the initial allotments, starting in March 1918. In all, four AEF pursuit squadrons, the 27th, 94th, 95th and 147th Aero Squadrons, the factory delivered the Nieuport 28s to the Americans in mid-February 1918 without armament. Several well-known World War I American fighter pilots, including the 26-victory ace, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, quentin Roosevelt was shot down and killed flying the type. The 94th and 95th had the task of dealing with the teething troubles. Initially undercarriages failed on landing - this was corrected by using heavier bracing wire, the Nieuport 28s 160 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine and fuel system proved unreliable and prone to fires. More seriously, a problem emerged – during a sharp pull out from a steep dive. The 27th and 147th Aero Squadrons arrived at the front three months later, starting operations on 2 June 1918. In July 1918, the 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons received their first SPAD XIIIs, by the end of August 1918, all four American squadrons were fully outfitted with SPAD XIIIs. The pilots of the 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons welcomed the SPADs, twelve of the Army Nieuports were transferred to the U. S. 1s were used by the British Grand Fleet

27.
Kelly Field
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Kelly Field Annex is a United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education, Kelly Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I, being established on 27 March 1917. It was used as a field, primary flying school, school for adjutants, supply officers, engineers, mechanics school. As of 2006, there are some isolated USAF activities on Port San Antonio subordinate to Lackland. Several large warehouses on the grounds of Port San Antonio were cleared, cleaned and equipped with large air conditioning units to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The first evacuees began to arrive on September 2,2005, Kelly Field Annex is named in honor of 2d Lieutenant George Edward Maurice Kelly. Lt. Kelly, who after a course of training at the Curtiss Aviation School, Rockwell Field, California, was ordered to Fort Sam Houston, near San Antonio. While attempting to land on 10 May 1911 in order to avoid running into a tent and thereby possibly injuring several others, died in a crash, the center was to be built for the Aviation Section of the U. S. Army Signal Corps. General Scriven described San Antonio as “the most important strategic position of the South, ” in response to the unrest resulting from the Mexican Revolution. S. ”In November 1915, when the newly created 1st Aero Squadron arrived at Fort Sam Houston after a cross-country flight from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Problems experienced by the 1st Aero Squadron on that expedition and the war in Europe persuaded Congress to improve. It was quickly apparent that Fort Sam Houston had inadequate space for flying operations, especially with newer. Major Benjamin Foulois, with the support of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, bordered by the Frio City Road on the northwest, the site was also adjacent to the Southern Pacific Railroad, providing easy access by road and rail. In addition, the new site was relatively flat, and thus suitable for flying operations, initially, the site was called the South San Antonio Aviation Camp. On 5 April 1917, four took off from Fort Sam Houston, flew across San Antonio and landed on the new airfield. Tents had been erected as hangars, however a permanent presence at the airfield was not established until 7 May when 700 men arrived, a week later, the population had grown to 4,000. Construction of the facility was rapid, with the United States now at war, the ground was cleared and scores of buildings - hangars, barracks, mess halls, a street system, electrical and plumbing systems, warehouses, machine shops were all constructed during the summer. By the end of June, it was clear that Foulois original site, a committee of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce provided the necessary land and presented the proposition to the Aviation Production Board in Washington, D. C. in June 1917. A contract was signed in July 1917, comprising all of what was Kelly Field #2, Kelly soldiers organized approximately 250,000 men into Aero Squadrons during the hectic months of 1917 and 1918

28.
Garden City, New York
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Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is on Long Island, the village is mostly in the Town of Hempstead with a small portion in the Town of North Hempstead. As of the 2010 census, the population of the village was 22,371. The Garden City name is applied to several other unincorporated, nearby jurisdictions, in the region, hamlets such as Garden City South, Garden City Park and East Garden City are next to the incorporated village of Garden City, but are not themselves part of it. Roosevelt Field, the center built on the former airfield from which Charles Lindbergh took off on his landmark 1927 transatlantic flight, is in East Garden City. Adelphi Universitys main campus is in Garden City, in 1869, the Irish-born millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart bought a portion of the lightly populated Hempstead Plains. In doing this I am prepared and would be willing to expend several millions of dollars, parenthetically, the name Garden City pre-dates that of the Garden City Movement which was established some years later near the end of the nineteenth century. The central attraction of the new community was the Garden City Hotel, designed by the firm of McKim. Access to Garden City was provided by the Central Railroad of Long Island, the railroads Hempstead Branch opened in 1873. Stewarts wife, Cornelia, founded the St. Pauls School for boys and this elaborate memorial was completed in 1885. Mrs. Stewart died the following year, in 2008, the Cathedral of the Incarnation underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation and rehabilitation project, which was completed in 2012. Voters selected Mineola to be the county seat for the new county of Nassau in November 1898, winning out over Hicksville and Hempstead. The Garden City Company donated four acres of land for the county buildings just south of the Mineola train station and the present-day village of Mineola, in the town of Hempstead. The land and the buildings have a Mineola postal address, but are within the village of Garden City. The early village did well due to its proximity to Hempstead, in time, thanks both to the railroad and automobiles, Garden City’s population increased. In 1910, Doubleday, Page, and Co. one of the most worlds important publishers, moved its operations to Garden City, which include its own train station. The Doubleday company purchased much of the land on the west site of Franklin Avenue, in 1916, company co-founder and Garden City resident Walter Hines Page was named Ambassador to Great Britain. In 1915, the village of Garden City merged with the village of Garden City Estates to its west and it became an incorporated village in 1919

29.
Mineola Field
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Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located 2.3 miles east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a field for the Air Service. In 1919, it was renamed in honor of President Theodore Roosevelts son, Quentin, Roosevelt Field was the takeoff point for many historic flights in the early history of aviation, including Charles Lindberghs 1927 solo transatlantic flight. It was also used by other pioneering aviators, including Amelia Earhart, the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome originally encompassed 900 to 1,000 acres east of and abutting Clinton Road, south of and adjacent to Old Country Road, and west of Merrick Avenue. A bluff 15 feet in elevation divided the plain into two large fields and he reported for aeronautical duty at the Signal Corps Aviation School, Augusta, Georgia, on 2 March 1912. On September 24,1918, the Army dedicated the portion of Hazelhurst Field No.1 as Roosevelt Field. Once in civilian hands, the owners sold portions along the edge of the field. Curtiss Field, a 300-acre airport on the site of Hazelhurst Field. Roosevelt Field occupied the remainder, consisting of seven hangars and a parking ramp adjacent to Curtiss Field. Unable to gain speed, the plane cartwheeled off the end of the bluff and burst into flames. The following May, operating from a hangar at Curtiss Field, both fields were bought in 1929 by Roosevelt Field, Inc. The western field, called Unit 2, and the runway atop the bluff, called Unit 1, were connected by a broad earthen taxi ramp and the consolidated property was named Roosevelt Field. Unit 1 was sold in 1936 and became the Roosevelt Raceway, at its peak in the 1930s, it was Americas busiest civilian airfield. Roosevelt Field was used by the Navy and Army during World War II, after the war, Roosevelt Field reverted to operation as a commercial airport until it was acquired by real estate developers in 1950. The field closed on May 31,1951, currently its site is occupied by Roosevelt Field Mall and Garden City Plaza. afhra. af. mil/. UNH,1918 USGS map of Hazelhurst/Roosevelt Field and environs Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields, New York, Central Long Island

30.
Hoboken, New Jersey
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Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken was first settled as part of the Pavonia, New Netherland colony in the 17th century. During the early 19th century the city was developed by Colonel John Stevens, first as a resort and it became a township in 1849 and was incorporated as a city in 1855. Hoboken is the location of the first recorded game of baseball and of the Stevens Institute of Technology, located on the Hudson Waterfront, the city was an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey and home to major industries for most of the 20th century. The character of the city has changed from a blue collar town to one of upscale shops, the name Hoboken was chosen by Colonel John Stevens when he bought land, on a part of which the city still sits. Like Weehawken, its neighbor to the north, Communipaw and Harsimus to the south, Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point, was used during the colonial era and later spelled as Hobuck, Hobock, Hobuk and Hoboocken. The origin of Hobokens name was not related to the Hoboken district of Antwerp, however, in the nineteenth century, a folk etymology had emerged linking the town of to the similarly-named Flemish town. Hoboken was originally an island, surrounded by the Hudson River on the east and it was a seasonal campsite in the territory of the Hackensack, a phratry of the Lenni Lenape, who used the serpentine rock found there to carve pipes. Soon after it part of the province of New Netherland. Three Lenape sold the land that was to become Hoboken for 80 fathoms of wampum,20 fathoms of cloth,12 kettles, six guns and these transactions, variously dated as July 12,1630 and November 22,1630, represent the earliest known conveyance for the area. Pauw failed to settle the land, and he was obliged to sell his holdings back to the Company in 1633 and it was later acquired by Hendrick Van Vorst, who leased part of the land to Aert Van Putten, a farmer. In 1643, north of what would be known as Castle Point, Van Putten built a house. In series of Indian and Dutch raids and reprisals, Van Putten was killed and his buildings destroyed, deteriorating relations with the Lenape, its isolation as an island, or relatively long distance from New Amsterdam may have discouraged more settlement. In 1664, the English took possession of New Amsterdam with little or no resistance, english-speaking settlers interspersed with the Dutch, but it remained scarcely populated and agrarian. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Bayards property was confiscated by the Revolutionary Government of New Jersey, in 1784, the land described as William Bayards farm at Hoebuck was bought at auction by Colonel John Stevens for £18,360. In the early 19th century, Colonel John Stevens developed the waterfront as a resort for Manhattanites, on October 11,1811, Stevens ship the Juliana, began to operate as a ferry between Manhattan and Hoboken, making it the worlds first commercial steam ferry. In 1825, he designed and built a locomotive capable of hauling several passenger cars at his estate. Sybils Cave, a cave with a spring, was opened in 1832

31.
White Star Line
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The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packers, more commonly known as just White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company. Founded in 1845, the line operated a fleet of ships that sailed between Britain and Australia. Today it is most famous for their innovative vessel Oceanic of 1870, in 1934, White Star merged with its chief rival, Cunard Line, which operated as Cunard-White Star Line until 1950. Cunard Line then operated as an entity until 2005 and is now part of Carnival Corporation & plc. As a lasting reminder of the White Star Line, modern Cunard ships use the term White Star Service to describe the level of customer care expected of the company. The first company bearing the name White Star Line was founded in Liverpool, England, by John Pilkington and it focused on the UK–Australia trade, which increased following the discovery of gold in Australia. The fleet initially consisted of the sailing ships RMS Tayleur, Blue Jacket, White Star, Red Jacket, Ellen, Ben Nevis, Emma, Mermaid. Tayleur, the largest ship of its day, wrecked on its voyage to Australia at Lambay Island, near Ireland. In 1863, the company acquired its first steamship, Royal Standard, the original White Star Line merged with two other small lines, The Black Ball Line and The Eagle Line, to form a conglomerate, the Liverpool, Melbourne and Oriental Steam Navigation Company Limited. This did not prosper and White Star broke away, White Star concentrated on Liverpool to New York City services. Heavy investment in new ships was financed by borrowing, but the companys bank, White Star was left with an incredible debt of £527,000, and was forced into bankruptcy. Ismay established the headquarters at Albion House, Liverpool. Ismay was approached by Gustav Christian Schwabe, a prominent Liverpool merchant, and his nephew, Schwabe offered to finance the new line if Ismay had his ships built by Wolffs company, Harland and Wolff. Ismay agreed, and a partnership with Harland and Wolff was established, the shipbuilders received their first orders on 30 July 1869. The agreement was that Harland and Wolff would build the ships at cost plus a fixed percentage, in 1870, William Imrie joined the managing company. As the first ship was being commissioned, Ismay formed the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company to operate the steamers under construction, White Star began with six ships of the Oceanic class, Oceanic, Atlantic, Baltic, and Republic, followed by the slightly larger Celtic and Adriatic. White Star began operating again in 1871 between New York and Liverpool and it has long been customary for many shipping lines to have a common theme for the names of their ships. White Star gave their ships names ending in -ic, such as Titanic, the first substantial loss for the company came only four years after its founding, occurring in 1873 with the sinking of the SS Atlantic and the loss of 535 lives near Halifax, Nova Scotia

32.
RMS Baltic (1903)
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RMS Baltic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line that sailed between 1904 and 1933. At 23,876 gross tons, she was the worlds largest ship until 1905 and she was the third of a quartet of ships, all measuring over 20,000 gross tons, dubbed The Big Four. She was launched on 21 November 1903 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, wish you and Titanic all success. She was also involved in a rescue on 6 December 1929, on 17 February 1933, she sailed for Osaka, Japan where she was scrapped. When World War I started in 1914, Baltic assisted in the evacuation of Americans from Europe, passenger numbers shrank quickly with fears of submarines, which were sighted by the RMS Baltic on several occasions. On 1 January 1916 she arrived in New York with $35,000,000 in gold bullion, later in 1916 she was used in transporting the Canadian Expeditionary Force from Halifax to Britain. Baltic was the used to deliver Major General John J. Pershing. On 9 June 1917, the War Department released its first communique revealing the Generals arrival in England, londoners Preparing to Entertain American Soldiers. Pershings Personal Staff and Other Members of General Staff Number 67 Officers and Are Accompanied by a Squad of 50 Privates and a Large Civilian Clerical Force- Pershing Anxious to Get into Harness. London, June 9. - Headed by Major General John J. http, //www. greatships. net/baltic. html http, //www. shorpy. com/White_Star_Line_piers_New_York_1904 http, //www. norwayheritage. com/p_ship. asp. sh=balt2

33.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea

34.
Winchester
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Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a government district. It is situated 61 miles south-west of London and 13.6 miles from Southampton, at the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes such as Alresford. Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchesters major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The city is home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with three Iron Age hillforts, Orams Arbour, St. Catherines Hill, and Worthy Down all in the nearby vicinity. In the Late Iron Age, an urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE and it seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, from the Brittonic for town or meeting place. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, Venta of the Belgae. Although in the years of the Roman province it was of subsidiary importance to Silchester and Chichester. At the beginning of the century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of 144 acres, there was a limited suburban area outside the walls. Like many other Roman towns however, Winchester began to decline in the fourth century. Ford identifies the community as the Cair Guinntguic listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains, amid the Saxon invasions of Britain, cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th centuries suggest a revival of settlement. The city became known as Wintan-ceastre in Old English, in 648, King Cenwalh of Wessex erected the Church of SS Peter and Paul, later known as the Old Minster. This became a cathedral in the 660s when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred from Dorchester-on-Thames, the citys first mint appears to date from this period. In the early tenth century there were two new establishments, the convent of Nunnaminster, founded by Alfreds widow Ealhswith

35.
Le Havre
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Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Modern Le Havre remains deeply influenced by its employment and maritime traditions and its port is the second largest in France, after that of Marseille, for total traffic, and the largest French container port. The name Le Havre means the harbour or the port and its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises. Administratively the commune is located in the Normandy region and, with Dieppe, is one of the two sub-prefectures of the Seine-Maritime department, Le Havre is the capital of the canton and since 1974 has been the see of the diocese of Le Havre. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. It is also the second largest subprefecture in France, the city and port were founded by the King Francis I of France in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing, after the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. Changes in years 1990–2000 were numerous, the right won the municipal elections and committed the city to the path of reconversion, seeking to develop the service sector and new industries. The Port 2000 project increased the capacity to compete with ports of northern Europe, transformed the southern districts of the city. In 2005 UNESCO inscribed the city of Le Havre as a World Heritage Site. The André Malraux Modern Art Museum is the second of France for the number of impressionist paintings, the city has been awarded two flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Le Havre is a major French city located some 50 kilometres west of Rouen on the shore of the English Channel, numerous roads link to Le Havre with the main access roads being the A29 autoroute from Amiens and the A13 autoroute from Paris linking to the A131 autoroute. Administratively, Le Havre is a commune in the Haute-Normandie region in the west of the department of Seine-Maritime, the urban area of Le Havre corresponds roughly to the territory of the Agglomeration community of Le Havre which includes 17 communes and 250,000 people. It occupies the tip of the natural region of Pays de Caux where it is the largest city. Le Havre is sandwiched between the coast of the Channel from south-west to north-west and the estuary of the Seine to the south, Le Havre belongs to the MLG community Paris Basin which was formed in the Mesozoic period. The Paris Basin consists of sedimentary rocks, the commune of Le Havre consists of two areas separated by a natural cliff edge, one part in the lower part of the town to the south including the harbour, the city centre and the suburbs

36.
St. Maixent Replacement Barracks
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The Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks is a former military facility in the vicinity of Saint-Maixent-lÉcole, Poitou-Charentes, France. It was used by the Air Service, United States Army as the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks during World War I, from the facility, Air Service personnel were sent into combat on the Western Front. In December 1917, the French Government suggested Saint-Maixent-lÉcole in the Poitou-Charentes region, a survey was made of the facilities and arrangements were finalized for Air Service Barracks #3, Base Section #2, which was later changed to the St. Maixent Replacement Barracks. Another building, named the Presbytere Barracks had been used for the ten years on a part-time basis for casual quartering. A new group of buildings, Coiffee Barracks 46°24′52″N 000°12′38″W was under construction, the Americans were the first to occupy them. These, along with the Presbytere Barracks 46°24′47″N 000°12′13″W and Canclaux 46°24′38″N 000°12′13″W were accepted for use by the Air Service, the first cadre of Air Service personnel to arrive and begin setting up the facilities for use arrived on 4 December 1917. Construction of kitchens and mess facilities, improvements to the barracks, additional station personnel arrived on 16 December. On 1 January 1918, the first fourteen Aero Squadrons arrived, four were quartered in the Coiffee Barracks, four in Presbytere and the balance at Canclaux Barracks. Initially the station was used principally as a location for newly arrived personnel in France. On 1 June 1918, its mission radically changed and it became a staging depot for classification of enlisted personnel and re-organization of existing squadrons. It also became the site of four important schools for commissioned officers and it became the policy of the Air Service in France for all units to proceed directly to St. Maixent upon their arrival in France. Enlisted personnel were given a trade test on arrival. Upon completion and qualifications verified, Aero Squadrons were re-organized in accordance with the tables of organization developed by the Air Service in France and they were then equipped and given instructions on the use of Gas Masks and qualified in their use before being deployed to the Zone of Advance. Each squadron then proceed to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, their date of departure being determined by the availability of its equipment and flying personnel. The squadron supply officer with a detachment was sent to a warehouse to collect the squadron equipment. Pilots and observers were collected at the 1st Air Depot, upon its arrival in the Zone of Advance, the squadron reported to general headquarters, G-3 for assignment to an Army. Squadrons assigned to Instructional Centers went directly from St. Maxient to their assigned Center, list of United States Air Service aerodromes in France This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, //www. afhra. af. mil/

37.
Tours Aerodrome
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Tours Aerodrome was a complex of military airfields in the French department of Indre-et-Loire,6 km north-northeast of the city of Tours. They were used during World War I as part of the Second Air Instructional Center, today Tours Airdrome #1 airfield is Tours Val de Loire Airport. The airfield complex is located three miles northwest of the city of Tours, Department of Indre-et-Loire, on the main road to Vendome. Tours initially was established by the French Air Force (French, Armée de lAir as a school for pilots prior to the United States entry into World War I. On 23 July 1917, a group of 47 enlisted Air Service men arrived in France on the SS Orduna, ten members were ordered to Paris to receive ground commissions while the balance were sent to Tours for flying training. However, owing to a number of personnel available, the French retained overall control of the school until the end of the war in November 1917. In addition to the training, the 2d AIC eventually developed specialist schools in Aerial Observation, Radio, Photography. The training complexes at Issoudun Aerodrome and Tours were the two largest training schools in France for Air Service pilots. The first Air Service training class arrived at Tours on 15 August, like the Naval aviators, the Army fliers were allotted in groups to classes under French instructors. The rivalry between cadets was intense, for the honor at stake was that of being the first pilot of the Air Service to be breveted in France. It was finally shared between two, Oscar G. Gude and J. W. Watts, later 1st Lieutenants and they were, in turn, followed by classes of cadets which arrived from the United States. On 1 November 1918, a ceremony was held which turned over control of the school to the AEF, however. On 1 February 1918, additional flight instructors arrived from the United States, with the additional number of personnel,30 additional training aircraft and facilities, the scope of training was greatly increased. From Tours, the graduates were sent to the 3d AIC at Issoudun Aerodrome for advanced training, the receipt of dual control trainers reduced the amount of accidents and improved the number of solo flying when that stage of training was reached. During February 1918,45 pilots graduated, in March 104, an average of about 80 pilots graduated each month afterwards. The Observers School was opened in January 1918, in addition to the Caudrons, British Sopwith Pups, along with Breguet 14s were utilized. The course given to observers was intended to cover all necessary to qualify the observer for front-line duty. Additional buildings were constructed during the summer of 1918 included 23 barracks,3 maintenance shops,10 warehouses and 3 hangars and these additional resources made possible the establishment of Radio and other smaller schools, along with the aerial gunnery school, with a gunnery range being established

38.
Mitchel Field
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Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains, in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the American Civil War, it was the location of Camp Winfield Scott, in 1898, in the Spanish–American War, Mitchels site was known as Camp Black. Curtiss JN-4 Jennies became a common sight over Long Island in 1917 and 1918, hundreds of aviators were trained for war at these training fields, two of the largest in the United States. Numerous new wooden buildings and tents were erected on Roosevelt Field and Field #2 in 1918 in order to meet this rapid expansion, Mitchel Field continued to grow after World War I and between 1929 and 1932. Much of this still exists today, being used for non-military purposes. In the 1920s and 1930s, various observation, fighter, and it became a major aerodrome for both the Air Corps as well as various civilian activity. The 1920s was considered the age of air racing and on 27 November 1920. The race consisted of four laps of a 29 miles course, thirty-eight pilots entered and took off individually. The winner was Capt. Corliss Moseley, flying a Verville-Packard VCP-R racer, in October 1923, Mitchel Field was the scene of the first airplane jumping contest in the nation. During the same year, two worlds airplane speed records were established there, in 1924, the airmail service had its inception in experimental flights begun at the airfield. In September 1929, Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, then a Lieutenant, in 1938, Mitchel was the starting point for the first nonstop transcontinental bomber flight, made by Army B-18 Bolos. Mitchel Field also served as a base from which the first demonstration of long-range aerial reconnaissance was made, in May 1939, three B-17s, with Lt. Curtis LeMay navigating, flew 620 miles out to sea and intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex. This was a example of the range, mobility. On September 21 of that year the base was struck by the Long Island Express hurricane, flooding produced water that was over knee-deep, numerous trees were toppled and the glass was smashed atop the traffic control tower. During 1943, Mitchel AAF became an area for Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers. Mitchel Field was a source of supply in initial garrisoning and defense of North Atlantic air bases in Newfoundland, Greenland. From the airfield the planning for the air defense of Nova Scotia, Antisubmarine patrol missions along the Atlantic coast were carried out in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command aircraft based at Mitchel

39.
27th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 27th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. The division traces its history from the New York Division, formed originally in 1908, the 6th Division designation was changed to the 27th Division in July 1917. When the New York Division was organized in 1908, the New York National Guard became the state, after Pennsylvania. The New York Division was called to duty during the Mexican border crisis of 1916. While on federal duty, it was redesignated as the 6th Division in June 1916 and it was released from active duty in December 1916, only to be recalled for World War I service in July 1917. The 6th Division was reorganized and redesignated as the 27th Division on 1 October 1917, the New York 27th Division was one of only three divisions formed up entirely from a single state National Guard, the other two being Illinois and Pennsylvania. However, not all New Yorkers served in the 27th and its initial Strength was 991 officers and 27,114 enlisted men. Prior to departing to training, the participated in a large send off parade in New York City along 5th Avenue on 30 August 1917. The 7th Infantry Regiment was the first to leave for training on Sept 11,1917 by train, the training was conducted at a purpose built temporary facility at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Nearby hotels such as the Cleveland Hotel became centers for social life, the camp also house seven YMCA Huts and a Knights of Columbus Hall. The division shipped out on 20 April 1918, in the spring of 1918, the division began its movement toward embarkation camps. The division’s advance detachment left Hoboken on 2 May and arrived at Brest, late in June the last units of the Twenty-Seventh Division had arrived safely overseas. Until 24 July the division was in the stages of training under British mentors, in Picardy. On 25 July, the 27th Division less its artillery brigade and 102nd Ammunition Trains, occupied the Dickebusch Lake, in just over a month, this operation merged into the Ypres-Lys action, and then, from 19 August to 3 September, the 27th was on its own. Following heavy losses, the 27th was placed into reserve for rest, six days later the Twenty-Seventh Division was back into action again, moving steadily toward Busigny on the heels of the retiring Germans. The 27th Division had, in conjunction with British forces and the 30th Division, American Expeditionary Force, the 52d Field Artillery Brigade and the 102nd Ammunition Train of the New York Division had not gone with the rest of the Twenty-seventh Division to the British front in Flanders. They had moved up on 28 October, to support the Seventy-Ninth Division in the Argonne, meanwhile, the Twenty-Seventh Division units which had seen heavy action in Flanders, had moved back to an area near the French seaport of Brest. Major Operations, Meuse-Argonne, Ypres-Lys, Somme Offensive, saw service with several British and the 30th Infantry Division, U. S. Army

40.
Hempstead, New York
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Hempstead is one of the three towns in Nassau County, New York, United States, occupying the southwestern part of the county, in the western half of Long Island. Twenty-two incorporated villages are completely or partially within the town, hempsteads combined population was 759,757 at the 2010 Census, the majority of the population of the county and by far the most of any town in New York. Also, a village named Hempstead is within the Town, if the town were to be incorporated as a city, it would be the second-largest city in New York behind New York City. It would be the 18th-largest city in the country, behind Charlotte, North Carolina and ahead of Seattle, hofstra Universitys campus is located in Hempstead. The town was first settled around 1644 following the establishment of a treaty between English colonists, John Carman and Robert Fordham, and the Lenape Indians in 1643. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut, a patent was issued by the government of New Netherland after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives. This transaction is depicted in a mural in the Hempstead Village Hall, in 1664, the settlement under the new Province of New York adopted the Dukes Laws, austere statutes that became the basis upon which the laws of many colonies were to be founded. For a time, Hempstead became known as Old Blue, as a result of the Blue Laws, during the American Revolution, the Loyalists in the south and the American sympathizers in the north caused a split in 1784 into North Hempstead and South Hempstead. Richard Hewlett, who was born in Hempstead, served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the British Army under General Oliver De Lancey in the American Revolution. Afterward, Hewlett departed the United States with other Loyalists and settled in the newly created Province of New Brunswick in what later became Canada, a settlement there was named Hampstead, in Queens County next to Long Island in the Saint John River. The town is headed by the Supervisor, currently Anthony J. Santino, the responsibilities of the office include presiding over meetings of the Town Council and directing the legislative and administrative function of that body. The position also entails creating and implementing the towns budget, Santino succeeds Kate Murray, who was the towns first female supervisor. One famous former supervisor was Republican Alfonse DAmato, who later represented New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. Caso and Francis T. Purcell, both of whom went on to become the county executive, and then Al DAmato. Having the Presiding Supervisor on the county board along with the Supervisor gave Hempstead—by far the most populous of the three towns and two cities—the most clout on that body. As a result of that ruling, the Board of Supervisors was replaced by a 19-member county legislature, Gregory P. Peterson served as the last Presiding Supervisor, as the position was abolished with the demise of the county board. The Town Council comprises six voting members, elected from a councilmanic district, the clerk is responsible for issuing birth, marriage, and death certificates and is considered the towns record keeper. The clerk is currently Nasrin Ahmad of Salisbury, the Receiver of Taxes is Donald X. Clavin, Jr. of Garden City, New York

41.
Miller Field (Staten Island, New York)
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Miller Field was a United States Army facility on Staten Island, New York, in New Dorp. It was founded in November 1919 and completed in 1921 and it was named after Captain James Ely Miller, commanding officer of the 95th Aero Squadron in the Air Service of the AEF, who died in combat on March 9,1918 over Rheims in World War I. He was the first United States aviator killed in action serving with an American military aviation unit. He was also an organizer, along with Major Raynal Bolling, of the 1st Reserve Aero Squadron, when built, Miller Field was the only coastal defense air station in the eastern United States and was part of the network of fortifications around New York City. It was built on land belonging to the Vanderbilt family. It had a runway, ramps for seaplanes, and four hangars for planes. Miller Field was used for fire and training Coast Guard personnel. Miller Field closed as an airbase in 1969, the Field was the site of the Elm Tree Beacon Light, a lighthouse from the 19th century through 1924 when it was abandoned. The light had replaced a landmark elm tree, the 1960 New York air disaster was the worst airline disaster to that point. The Miller Army Air Field Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, currently the field is also in use as a local park, with baseball and soccer fields. It hosts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the summer, the field is directly east of New Dorp High School. Miller Field is a part of the Staten Island Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area, a tropical storm helped propel the cork-lined, floating box to Staten Island. Official National Park Service website Historic Miller Field website List of Air Force fields Photos of Miller Field

42.
Staten Island
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Staten Island /ˌstætən ˈaɪlənd/ is one of the five boroughs of New York City in the U. S. state of New York. In the southwest of the city, Staten Island is the southernmost part of both the city and state of New York, with Conference House Park at the tip of the island. The borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, with a 2015 Census-estimated population of 474,558, Staten Island is the least populated of the boroughs but is the third-largest in area at 58 sq mi. Staten Island is the borough of New York with a non-Hispanic White majority. The borough is coextensive with Richmond County, and until 1975 was the Borough of Richmond and its flag was later changed to reflect this. Staten Island has been called the forgotten borough by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government. The East Shore is home to the 2. 5-mile F. D. R, Boardwalk, the fourth-longest in the world. The South Shore, site of the 17th-century Dutch and French Huguenot settlement, the West Shore is the least populated and most industrial part of the island. Motor traffic can reach the borough from Brooklyn via the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey via the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge. Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus lines and an MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, Staten Island is the only borough that is not connected to the New York City Subway system. The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan and is a popular tourist attraction, providing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Lower Manhattan. The landfill is being redeveloped as Freshkills Park, a devoted to restoring habitat. As in much of North America, human habitation appeared in the island fairly rapidly after the retreat of the ice sheet, archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from about 14,000 years ago. This evidence was first discovered in 1917 in the Charleston section of the island, various Clovis artifacts have been discovered since then, on property owned by Mobil Oil. The island was abandoned later, possibly because of the extirpation of large mammals on the island. Rossville points are a type of arrowhead that defines a Native American cultural period that runs from the Archaic period to the Early Woodland period. They are named for the Rossville section of Staten Island, where they were first found near the old Rossville Post Office building, at the time of European contact, the island was inhabited by the Raritan band of the Unami division of the Lenape. In Lenape, one of the Algonquian languages, Staten Island was called Aquehonga Manacknong, meaning as far as the place of the bad woods, or Eghquhous, the area was part of the Lenape homeland known as Lenapehoking

43.
United States Department of the Treasury
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The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. On February 13,2017, the Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury, the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn into office on September 11,1789. Hamilton was asked by President George Washington to serve after first having asked Robert Morris, Hamilton almost single-handedly worked out the nations early financial system, and for several years was a major presence in Washingtons administration as well. His portrait is on the obverse of the U. S. ten-dollar bill while the Treasury Department building is shown on the reverse. Besides the Secretary, one of the best-known Treasury officials is the Treasurer of the United States whose signature, along with the Treasury Secretarys, the Treasury prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. The Department also collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, the Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, nor was there a tangible basis for securing funds from foreign investors or governments. The delegates resolved to issue paper money in the form of bills of credit, the Congress stipulated that each of the colonies contribute to the Continental governments funds. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776, despite the infusion of foreign and domestic loans to pay for a war of independence, the United Colonies were unable to establish a well-organized agency for financial administration. Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14,1777, the Treasury Office was reorganized three times between 1778 and 1781. The $241.5 million of paper Continental Dollars devalued rapidly, by May 1781, the dollar collapsed at a rate of from 500 to 1000 to 1 against hard currency. Protests against the worthless money swept the colonies and angry Americans coined the expression not worth a Continental, Robert Morris was designated Superintendent of Finance in 1781 and restored stability to the nations finances. Morris, a colonial merchant, was nicknamed the Financier because of his reputation for procuring funds or goods on a moments notice. His staff included a Comptroller, a Treasurer, a Register, and auditors, who managed the finances through 1784. The Treasury Board of three Commissioners continued to oversee the finances of the confederation of former colonies until September 1789, the First Congress of the United States was called to convene in New York on March 4,1789, marking the beginning of government under the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11,1789, Hamilton had served as George Washingtons aide-de-camp during the Revolution, and was of great importance in the ratification of the Constitution. Because of his financial and managerial acumen, Hamilton was a choice for solving the problem of the new nations heavy war debt. Hamiltons first official act was to submit a report to Congress in which he laid the foundation for the financial health

44.
Vermont
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Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders the other U. S. states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermonts western border with the state of New York, Vermont is the 2nd-least populous of the U. S. states, with nearly 50,000 more residents than Wyoming. The capital is Montpelier, the least populous state capital in the U. S, the most populous municipality, Burlington, is the least populous city in the U. S. to be the most populous within a state. As of 2015, Vermont continued to be the producer of maple syrup in the U. S. It was ranked as the safest state in the country in January 2016, for thousands of years inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and Mohawk, much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by Frances colony of New France. France ceded the territory to Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years War, for many years, the nearby colonies, especially the provinces of New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area. Settlers who held land titles granted by New York were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, ultimately, those settlers prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for 14 years, aside from the original 13 states that were formerly colonies, Vermont is one of only four U. S. states that were previously sovereign states. Vermont was also the first state to join the U. S. as its 14th member state after the original 13, while still an independent republic, Vermont was the first of any future U. S. state to partially abolish slavery. It played an important geographic role in the Underground Railroad, Vermont is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States and comprises 9,614 square miles, making it the 45th-largest state. It is the state that does not have any buildings taller than 124 feet. Land comprises 9,250 square miles and water comprises 365 square miles, making it the 43rd-largest in land area, in total area, it is larger than El Salvador and smaller than Haiti. The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the eastern border with New Hampshire. 41% of Vermonts land area is part of the Connecticut Rivers watershed, Lake Champlain, the major lake in Vermont, is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the United States and separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. From north to south, Vermont is 159 miles long and its greatest width, from east to west, is 89 miles at the Canada–U. S. Border, the narrowest width is 37 miles at the Massachusetts line, the states geographic center is approximately three miles east of Roxbury, in Washington County. There are fifteen U. S. federal border crossings between Vermont and Canada, the origin of the name Vermont is uncertain, but likely comes from the French les Verts Monts, meaning the Green Mountains

45.
Auburn Correctional Facility
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Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village and it is classified as a maximum security facility. The prison was renamed the Auburn Correctional Facility in 1970, the prison is among the oldest functional prisons in the United States. The prison charged a fee for tourists in order to raise funds for the prison, eventually, to discourage most visitors, the fee was increased. Prisoners were compelled to work during the day, and the profit of their labor helped to support the prison, prisoners were segregated by offense, additionally they were issued clothing that identified their crime. The traditional American prison uniform, consisting of black and white stripes. The prisoners had their heads closely cropped and walked in lockstep, each prisoner placed a hand on the shoulder of the man in front of him to maintain a rigid separation. There was a dining room so that the prisoners could gather together for meals. Thus the inmates worked and ate together, but in complete silence, at night the prisoners were kept in individual cells. For several decades, this system was adopted by other jurisdictions and this system was also called the Congregate System. The Sing Sing Correctional Facility, also in New York, was using this system under the supervision of the former warden of the Auburn prison. As of 2010, Auburn Correctional Facility is responsible for the manufacturing of New York States license plates, Copper John is a statue of an American Revolutionary War soldier that stands atop the Auburn Correctional Facility. It has entered the lexicon as a reference to the prison and aspects of it, for example. John was originally a statue that was erected atop the administration office of the prison in 1821. In 1848, the statue had weathered so much that it was taken down, in 2004, the New York state government became aware that the statue was fashioned to be anatomically correct and ordered the statue to be incorrected. The warden was a position appointed by the New York State Commissioner of Correction. He was a carpenter and builder of the prison. He was also a principle keeper, matthew R. Bartlett 1867 -1869,1.5 executions

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Fort Drum
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Fort Drum is a U. S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 12,955 at the 2010 census and it is home to the 10th Mountain Division. Fort Drum consists of 107,265 acres and temperatures can reach as low as −30 °F and this section of the article incorporates text taken from a public-domain document prepared by the US military. A portion of the present Fort Drum was purchased for use as a training site since 1908. However, the presence in the North Country may be traced back to the early 19th century. In 1809 a company of soldiers was stationed at Sacketts Harbor to enforce the Embargo Act. Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, Sacketts Harbor became the center of United States naval and military activity for the Upper St. Lawrence River valley and Lake Ontario. During the 1830s and 1840s, the Lower Canada Rebellion in Canada prompted a new round of military preparations, in 1908, Major General Frederick Dent Grant was sent to the Pine Camp region to train with 2,000 regulars and 8,000 militia. Grant, the son of former United States president and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant, in 1909 the military allocated funds to purchase land to form Pine Camp, and summer training continued here through the years. The camps first introduction to the spotlight came in 1935 when the largest peacetime maneuvers were held on Pine Plains. Approximately 36,500 soldiers came from throughout the Northeast to take part in the exercise, some soldiers traveled by trains which arrived in town every 15 minutes, coming from as far away as Buffalo, New York and New York City. For 36 hours, young men from offices, factories, the maneuvers were judged to be most successful and the War Department purchased an additional 9,000 acres of land. The LeRay Mansion, built in the early 19th century, was named after James LeRay de Chaumont, throughout the years the mansion served as a post commanders quarters, visiting dignitaries quarters and a location for formal military receptions. Today the mansion is used to high ranking visitors, which has encouraged the continued upkeep of the mansion. The LeRay Mansion is registered with the National Register of Historic Places, with the outbreak of World War II, Pine Camp was selected for a major expansion. An additional 75,000 acres of land was purchased, displacing 525 local families, five entire villages were eliminated, while others were reduced from one-third to one-half their size. By Labor Day,1941,100 tracts of land were taken over, three thousand buildings, including 24 schools, six churches and a post office, were abandoned. Contractors then went to work, and in a period of 10 months at a cost of $20 million, construction workers paid the price, as the winter of 1941-42 was one of the coldest in North Country history

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Mitchel Air Force Base
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Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains, in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the American Civil War, it was the location of Camp Winfield Scott, in 1898, in the Spanish–American War, Mitchels site was known as Camp Black. Curtiss JN-4 Jennies became a common sight over Long Island in 1917 and 1918, hundreds of aviators were trained for war at these training fields, two of the largest in the United States. Numerous new wooden buildings and tents were erected on Roosevelt Field and Field #2 in 1918 in order to meet this rapid expansion, Mitchel Field continued to grow after World War I and between 1929 and 1932. Much of this still exists today, being used for non-military purposes. In the 1920s and 1930s, various observation, fighter, and it became a major aerodrome for both the Air Corps as well as various civilian activity. The 1920s was considered the age of air racing and on 27 November 1920. The race consisted of four laps of a 29 miles course, thirty-eight pilots entered and took off individually. The winner was Capt. Corliss Moseley, flying a Verville-Packard VCP-R racer, in October 1923, Mitchel Field was the scene of the first airplane jumping contest in the nation. During the same year, two worlds airplane speed records were established there, in 1924, the airmail service had its inception in experimental flights begun at the airfield. In September 1929, Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, then a Lieutenant, in 1938, Mitchel was the starting point for the first nonstop transcontinental bomber flight, made by Army B-18 Bolos. Mitchel Field also served as a base from which the first demonstration of long-range aerial reconnaissance was made, in May 1939, three B-17s, with Lt. Curtis LeMay navigating, flew 620 miles out to sea and intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex. This was a example of the range, mobility. On September 21 of that year the base was struck by the Long Island Express hurricane, flooding produced water that was over knee-deep, numerous trees were toppled and the glass was smashed atop the traffic control tower. During 1943, Mitchel AAF became an area for Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers. Mitchel Field was a source of supply in initial garrisoning and defense of North Atlantic air bases in Newfoundland, Greenland. From the airfield the planning for the air defense of Nova Scotia, Antisubmarine patrol missions along the Atlantic coast were carried out in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command aircraft based at Mitchel

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United States Army Air Corps
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The United States Army Air Corps was the military aviation arm of the United States of America between 1926 and 1941. The USAAC was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926, the Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces on 20 June 1941, giving it greater autonomy from the Armys middle-level command structure. The separation of the Air Corps from control of its combat units caused problems of unity of command that became more acute as the Air Corps enlarged in preparation for World War II. This was resolved by the creation of the Army Air Forces, the U. S. Army Air Service had a brief but turbulent history. In early 1926 the Military Affairs Committee of the Congress rejected all bills set forth before it on both sides of the issue. They fashioned a compromise in which the findings of the Morrow Board were enacted as law, while providing the air arm a five-year plan for expansion and development. The legislation changed the name of the Air Service to the Air Corps, thereby strengthening the conception of military aviation as an offensive, the Air Corps Act became law on 2 July 1926. Two additional brigadier generals would serve as assistant chiefs of the Air Corps, previous provisions of the National Defense Act of 1920 that all flying units be commanded only by rated personnel and that flight pay be awarded were continued. The Air Corps also retained the Prop and Wings as its branch insignia through its disestablishment in 1947, patrick became Chief of the Air Corps and Brig. Gen. James E. Fechet continued as his first assistant chief. The Air Corps Act of 2 July 1926 effected no fundamental innovation, the change in designation meant no change in status, the Air Corps was still a combatant branch of the Army with less prestige than the Infantry. The Air Corps Act gave authorization to carry out an expansion program. However, a lack of appropriations caused the beginning of the program to be delayed until 1 July 1927. The act authorized expansion to 1,800 airplanes,1,650 officers, none of the goals were reached by July 1932. Organizationally the Air Corps doubled from seven to fifteen groups, but the expansion was meaningless because all were seriously understrength in aircraft and pilots. Air Corps groups added 1927–1937 ¹Inactivated on 20 May 1937 ²Redesignated 17th Attack Group, 17th Bomb Group As units of the Air Corps increased in number, so did higher command echelons. The 1st Bomb Wing was activated in 1931, followed by the 3rd Attack Wing in 1932 to protect the Mexican border, the three wings became the foundation of General Headquarters Air Force upon its activation in 1935. In 1927 the Air Corps adopted a new scheme for painting its aircraft. The wings and tails of aircraft were painted yellow, with the words U. S

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VII Corps (United States)
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For the VII Corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War, see VII Corps. The VII Corps of the United States Army was one of the two corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II, VII Corps was organized at the end of World War I on 19 August 1918, at Remiremont, France and was inactivated in 1919. VII Corps was reactivated at Fort McClellan, Alabama 25 November 1940, in late December 1941, VII Corps HQ was moved to San Jose, California as part of the Western Defense Command and as it continued to train and prepare for deployment. Its first return to continental Europe took place on D-Day in June 1944, First Army during Operation Overlord, targeting Utah Beach via amphibious assault. For Overlord, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were attached to VII Corps, after the Battle of Normandy the airborne units were assigned to the newly created XVIII Airborne Corps. Subsequently, VII Corps participated in battles during the advance across France. The corps was inactivated in 1946, for the Normandy Operation, VII Corps was part of 21st Army Group under the command of General Bernard Montgomery and the U. S. First Army commanded by Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges, the Corps was commanded by Major General J. Lawton Collins. VII Corps led the assault of Operation Cobra, the First Army-led offensive as part of the breakout of the Normandy area. Its success is credited with changing the war in France from high-intensity infantry combat to rapid maneuver warfare. Manton S. Eddy 39th Infantry Col. Harry A. Paddy Flint 47th Infantry Col. George W. Smythe 60th Infantry Col. Frederick J. de Rohan 79th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Ira T. Wyche 313th Infantry Col. Sterling A. Wood 314th Infantry Col. Warren A. Robinson 315th Infantry Col. Porter P. Wiggins Col. Bernard B. Jay W. MacKelvie 357th Infantry Col. Philip De Witt Ginder Col. John W. Sheehy Lt. Col. Charles M. Schwab Col. George B, barth 358th Infantry Col. James V. Thompson Col. Richard C. Partridge 359th Infantry Col. Clark K. Fales 101st Airborne Division, Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor 501st Parachute Infantry Col. Howard R. Johnson 502nd Parachute Infantry Col. George V. H. Moseley, Jr. Lt. Col. John H. Michaelis 506th Parachute Infantry Col. Robert F. Sink 327th Glider Infantry Col. George S. Wear Col. Joseph H. Harper 4th Cavalry Group, Col. Joseph M. Tully 4th Cavalry Squadron Lt. Col. E. C. Dunn 24th Cavalry Squadron Lt. Col. F. H. Gaston, Jr. 6th Armored Group and its presence took US forces in theatre from a force capable of defending Saudi Arabia to a force capable of ejecting Iraqi troops from Kuwait

United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean,

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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764

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Flag

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The signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620.

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The Declaration of Independence: the Committee of Five presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress in 1776

New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is

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British general John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga in 1777.

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Flag

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1800 map of New York from Low's Encyclopaedia

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The Erie Canal at Lockport, New York in 1839

Air National Guard
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When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States and they are jointly administered by the states and the National Guard Bureau, a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the National Guard of

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Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters fly over Gunsan, South Korea. The tailflashes denote the aircraft from being from the New Mexico, Colorado and Montana ANGs. Wisconsin Air National Guard F-16s over Madison, Wisconsin

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A Galludet Tractor biplane which the New York National Guard aviators rented in 1915.

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Captain Charles A. Lindbergh, Missouri National Guard, and members of his National Guard unit, 110th Observation Squadron, after he flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927.

New York Air National Guard
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The New York Air National Guard is the air force militia of the State of New York, United States of America. It is, along with the New York Army National Guard, as state militia units, the units in the New York Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New Y

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106th Rescue Wing HC-130 refueling an HH-60 Pave Hawk over Long Island, New York. The 102d Rescue Squadron is the oldest unit in the New York Air National Guard, having over 90 years of service to the state and nation

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A 1st Aero Company Gallaudet C-2 in 1915

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Douglas O-38 102d Observation Squadron, New York National Guard and based at Miller Field, New Dorp, Staten Island, New York City, 1933. The squadron provided divisional aviation for the 27th Division, New York National Guard. Note squadron emblem on side of fuselage.

Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base
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Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base is a former air defense military installation collocated to use runways with the Westhampton, New York, municipal airport. The Suffolk County Army Air Field was built in 1943 as a United States Army Air Forces sub-base of nearby Mitchel Field, later assigned to First Air Force, the 437th Army Air Force Ba

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102 RQS HC-130 from F.S. Gabreski Airport at Patrick AFB

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Airfields

Operation Iraqi Freedom
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 y

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Clockwise from top: U.S. troops at Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; an Iraqi insurgent firing a MANPADS; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square.

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A UN weapons inspector examines an Iraqi factory in 2002.

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President George Bush, surrounded by leaders of the House and Senate, announces the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 2 October 2002.

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Excerpt from Donald Rumsfeld memo dated 27 November 2001

Operation Enduring Freedom
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Operation Enduring Freedom comprises several subordinate operations, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, lasted from October 2001 to 31 December 2014. Government used the term Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan to officially describe the War in Afghanistan, continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States military forces, both n

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During Operation El Dorado in May 2004, U.S. Marines from Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, startle the owner of a compound who refused to open his door for a search.

106th Rescue Wing
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The 106th Rescue Wing is a unit of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, Westhampton Beach, New York. If activated to service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command. The 102d Rescue Squadron, assigned to the 106th Operations Group of the 106th RQW, is a desc

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106th Rescue Wing HC-130 refuleling an HH-60 Pave Hawk over Long Island, New York

HC-130 Hercules
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The HC-130H Hercules and HC-130J Hercules versions are operated by the United States Coast Guard in a SAR and maritime reconnaissance role. The HC-130P Combat King and HC-130J Combat King II models are operated by the United States Air Force for long-range SAR and CSAR, in this latter role, they are primarily used to extend the range and endurance

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HC-130 Hercules

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A USAF HC-130P refuels an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant, 1968.

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USCG HC-130H on International Ice Patrol duties

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USCG HC-130J

World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts i

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Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the Battle of the Somme, Mark V tanks cross the Hindenburg Line, HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, a British Vickers machine gun crew wears gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, Albatros D.III fighters of Jagdstaffel 11

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Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908.

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This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

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Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.

New York National Guard
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The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs is responsible for the states New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, New York Guard and the New York Naval Militia. It is headed by Adjutant General of New York Major General Patrick A. Murphy, with the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo serving as Commander in Chief of th

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States

United States Army National Guard
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The Army National Guard, in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is a militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations, the National Guard of the states, territories and the District of Columbia. The Army National Guard is divided into units stationed in each of

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First militia muster in what is now Continental United States, September 16, 1565, St. Augustine, Florida.

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Seal of the Army National Guard

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Death of Braddock at Battle of the Monongahela. 19th century engraving.

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Statue representing John Parker. By Henry Hudson Kitson, 1900. The image of the Lexington minuteman has served as the heraldic crest of all Army Reserve units since 1923.

World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directl

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Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

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The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 1930

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Adolf Hitler at a German National Socialist political rally in Weimar, October 1930

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Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the Second Italo-Abyssinian War

Frank P. Lahm
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Frank Purdy Lahm was an American aviation pioneer, the nations first military aviator, and a general officer in the United States Army Air Corps and Army Air Forces. Lahm developed an interest in flying from his father, a balloonist and he met the Wright Brothers in 1907 and used his interest in powered flight to become the Armys first certified pi

Thomas Selfridge
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Thomas Etholen Selfridge was a first lieutenant in the U. S. Army. He became the first person to die in the crash of an airplane as a passenger on a demonstration flight piloted by Orville Wright. Selfridge was born on February 8,1882 in San Francisco and he was the grandson of Rear Admiral Thomas Oliver Selfridge Sr. He graduated from United State

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Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge (1882-1908)

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Crashed Wright Flyer that took the life of Tom Selfridge

Albert Leo Stevens
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Albert Leo Stevens was a pioneering balloonist. He was born on March 9,1873 or 1877 in Cleveland and he began making balloon ascensions in 1889 at age 12, and began manufacturing balloons and dirigibles at the age of 20 in 1893. In 1895 he made his first parachute jump from a church spire in Montreal and he participated in the Gordon Bennett Balloo

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Stevens ascent from Wanamaker's in Manhattan on July 8, 1911

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Stevens and Harry Nelson Atwood in 1911

71st New York Infantry
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The 71st Infantry Regiment is an organization of the New York State Guard. Formerly, the 71st Infantry was a regiment of the New York State Militia, the regiment was not renumbered during the 1918 national reorganization, and never received a National Guard number. In the fall of 1849, the Order of United Americans, related to the Know Nothing Part

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In Washington during the Civil War

Observation balloon
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An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, historically, observation balloons were filled with hydrogen. The balloons were fabric envelopes fille

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The battle of Fleurus, 26 June 1794, saw the first military use of an aircraft (L'Entreprenant).

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British balloon of the German Parseval-Siegsfeld type, 1916. The rear "tail" fills with air automatically through an opening facing the wind.

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Caquot type dirigible, used by the Allies in the mid-latter part of WWI

Glenn Curtiss
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Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U. S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships, in 1908 Curtiss joined the Aerial Experiment Association, a pioneering research group, founded by Alexander G

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Grande Semaine d'Aviation in France in 1909

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Glenn Curtiss on his V8 motorcycle in 1907

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Glenn H. Curtiss's pilot license

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The June Bug on its prize-winning historic flight with Curtiss at the controls.

Raynal Bolling
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Raynal Cawthorne Bolling was the first high-ranking officer of the United States Army to be killed in combat in World War I. A corporate lawyer by vocation, he became an early Army aviator and he was the namesake of Bolling Air Force Base. Bolling was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but from 1911 he was a resident of Greenwich, in 1912, he commissio

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The Gallaudet "Military Tractor" used by the Aviation Detachment at Garden City

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Colonel Raynal C. Bolling Memorial, Greenwich, Connecticut

101st Signal Battalion (United States)
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The 101st Signal Battalion, headquartered in Yonkers, New York, is an Echelons Above Corps Signal Unit of the New York Army National Guard. It is subordinate to the 53rd Troop Command, the mission of the 101st Signal Battalion is to provide and manage communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces

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Former Second Company Armory, Brooklyn

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Distinctive unit insignia

Mineola, New York
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Mineola is a village in Nassau County, Long Island, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census, the name is derived from an Algonquin word meaning a pleasant place. Most of the Incorporated Village of Mineola is in the Town of North Hempstead, Old Country Road runs along the villages southern border. The area serviced by the Mineol

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Old Nassau County Courthouse

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British dirigible R-34 lands in Mineola in 1919

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The Mineola Post Office

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Korean and Portuguese churches, Mineola

Long Island
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Long Island is an island located just off the northeast coast of the United States and a region within the U. S. state of New York. Stretching east-northeast from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties, Kings and Queens to the west, then Nassau, more generally, Long Island may also refer collectively both to the

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A mansion on Long Island's Gold Coast

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The c. 1806 Old Hook Mill in East Hampton is one of eleven extant windmills in Suffolk County.

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The Old House in Cutchogue, built 1649, is the oldest English-style house in New York State.

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Battle of Long Island

1st Reconnaissance Squadron
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The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the 9th Operations Group, Beale Air Force Base, California. The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is the United States militarys oldest flying unit, the squadron has maintained an unbroken heritage of over a century from its founding. The 1st RS has flown 47 different airc

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Lockheed U-2S 80-1068 Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk 05-2026

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Emblem of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron

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100 year anniversary emblem

Punitive Expedition
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A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, in the 1st century AD, Germanicus engaged in punitive expeditions against the Germanic tribes as repercussion for the Ro

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The American punitive expedition against Malolo, Fiji in 1840 by Alfred Agate.

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The French Navy raids San Juan de Ulua (Mexico) during the Pastry War (1838).

Nieuport 28
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The Nieuport 28 C.1 was a French biplane fighter aircraft flown during World War I, built by Nieuport and designed by Gustave Delage. The Nieuport 17 line was already being supplanted in French service by the SPAD S. VII as quickly as supplies of the Hispano-Suiza engine would allow. The Nieuport 28 design advanced the concept of the lightly built,

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Nieuport 28

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Nieuport 28A advertising Nucoa margarine after the war in the US

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Starting Nieuport 28s of the 95th Aero Squadron for a patrol

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Rickenbacker with his Nieuport 28 – note offset guns

Kelly Field
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Kelly Field Annex is a United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education, Kelly Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I, being established on 27 March 1917. It was used as a fiel

Garden City, New York
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Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is on Long Island, the village is mostly in the Town of Hempstead with a small portion in the Town of North Hempstead. As of the 2010 census, the population of the vill

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Welcome sign

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County

Mineola Field
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Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located 2.3 miles east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a field for the Air Service. In 1919, it was renamed in honor of President Theodore Roosevelts son, Quentin, Roosevelt Fie

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Nearly a thousand people assembled at Roosevelt Field to see Charles Lindbergh take off in the Spirit of St Louis, May 20, 1927

Hoboken, New Jersey
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Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken was first settled as part of the Pavonia, New Netherland colony in the 17th century. During the early 19th century the city was developed by Colonel John Stevens, first as a resort and it beca

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Hoboken, New Jersey

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The Hudson River during the 1880s, offshore from Hoboken and Jersey City.

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Upper Bloomfield Street between 9th and 10th (1900)

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Hoboken Terminal shortly after it opened in 1907

White Star Line
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The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packers, more commonly known as just White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company. Founded in 1845, the line operated a fleet of ships that sailed between Britain and Australia. Today it is most famous for their innovative vessel Oceanic of 1870, in 1934, White Star merg

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Adriatic of 1871, (3,888 GRT)

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White Star Line

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Britannic and Germanic of 1874, (5,000 GRT)

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Oceanic of 1899, (17,272 GRT)

RMS Baltic (1903)
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RMS Baltic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line that sailed between 1904 and 1933. At 23,876 gross tons, she was the worlds largest ship until 1905 and she was the third of a quartet of ships, all measuring over 20,000 gross tons, dubbed The Big Four. She was launched on 21 November 1903 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, wish you and Titanic al

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Baltic from an old postcard.

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RMS Baltic line drawing

Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on

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Inaugural journey of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, the first ever commercial railway line.

Winchester
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Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a government district. It is situated 61 miles south-west of London and 13.6 miles from Southampton, at the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes s

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Winchester city centre and Cathedral from the North West

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Hamo Thornycroft 's statue of King Alfred the Great in Winchester.

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The Winchester Buttercross (Sept. 2010).

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Winchester High Street in the mid 19th century.

Le Havre
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Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Modern Le Havre remains deeply influenced by its employment and maritime traditions and its port is the second largest

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Le Havre

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UNESCO World Heritage Site

3.
Map of Le Havre: to the south the Seine estuary; to the west the English Channel.

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Le Havre under snow

St. Maixent Replacement Barracks
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The Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks is a former military facility in the vicinity of Saint-Maixent-lÉcole, Poitou-Charentes, France. It was used by the Air Service, United States Army as the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks during World War I, from the facility, Air Service personnel were sent into combat on the Western

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Plan of Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks (click for high resolution)

Tours Aerodrome
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Tours Aerodrome was a complex of military airfields in the French department of Indre-et-Loire,6 km north-northeast of the city of Tours. They were used during World War I as part of the Second Air Instructional Center, today Tours Airdrome #1 airfield is Tours Val de Loire Airport. The airfield complex is located three miles northwest of the city

Mitchel Field
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Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains, in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the American Civil

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Looking west in 1968, the airfield is mainly intact.

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2006 USGS photo. The remains of runway 5/23 are visible in the center.

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Historical airfield information Closed 1961, non-existent today

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From 1949 to 1961, the Air Force Reserve's 514th Troop Carrier Wing was the main operational flying organization at Mitchel AFB (Curtiss C-46 Commando were replaced in 1954 with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars.)

27th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 27th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. The division traces its history from the New York Division, formed originally in 1908, the 6th Division designation was changed to the 27th Division in July 1917. When the New York Division was organized in 1908, the New York National Guard became the

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27th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia. The red stars depict the Orion constellation, punning on the surname of the division's World War I commander John F. O'Ryan. The Red circle on the outside is an "O," also for "O'Ryan." The letters inside form the monogram "NYD," for "New York Division."

Hempstead, New York
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Hempstead is one of the three towns in Nassau County, New York, United States, occupying the southwestern part of the county, in the western half of Long Island. Twenty-two incorporated villages are completely or partially within the town, hempsteads combined population was 759,757 at the 2010 Census, the majority of the population of the county an

Miller Field (Staten Island, New York)
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Miller Field was a United States Army facility on Staten Island, New York, in New Dorp. It was founded in November 1919 and completed in 1921 and it was named after Captain James Ely Miller, commanding officer of the 95th Aero Squadron in the Air Service of the AEF, who died in combat on March 9,1918 over Rheims in World War I. He was the first Uni

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Miller Army Air Field Historic District

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MTA New York City Bus #4017 on the S76 route in New Dorp running along Miller Field.

Staten Island
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Staten Island /ˌstætən ˈaɪlənd/ is one of the five boroughs of New York City in the U. S. state of New York. In the southwest of the city, Staten Island is the southernmost part of both the city and state of New York, with Conference House Park at the tip of the island. The borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Ku

United States Department of the Treasury
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The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. On February 13,2017, the Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin a

Vermont
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Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders the other U. S. states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermonts western border with the state of New York, Vermont is the 2nd-least

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Vermont State House in Montpelier

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Flag

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The Hancock Overlook, on Route 100 in Hancock, Vermont.

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Burlington, Vermont's largest city

Auburn Correctional Facility
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Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village and it is classified as a maximum security facility. The prison was renamed the Auburn Correctional Facility in 1970, the prison is among the oldest functional prisons in the United States. The priso

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The current front of Auburn Prison. Note the two guard towers on either side and Copper John on top

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The execution of William Kemmler, August 6, 1890

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Copper John as he is today.

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The original Copper John

Fort Drum
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Fort Drum is a U. S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 12,955 at the 2010 census and it is home to the 10th Mountain Division. Fort Drum consists of 107,265 acres and temperatures can reach as low as −30 °F and this section of the article incorporates text taken

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Marksmanship training at Fort Drum

Mitchel Air Force Base
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Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains, in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the American Civil

1.
Looking west in 1968, the airfield is mainly intact.

2.
2006 USGS photo. The remains of runway 5/23 are visible in the center.

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Historical airfield information Closed 1961, non-existent today

4.
From 1949 to 1961, the Air Force Reserve's 514th Troop Carrier Wing was the main operational flying organization at Mitchel AFB (Curtiss C-46 Commando were replaced in 1954 with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars.)

United States Army Air Corps
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The United States Army Air Corps was the military aviation arm of the United States of America between 1926 and 1941. The USAAC was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926, the Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces on 20 June 1941, giving it greater autonomy from the Armys middle-level command structure.

VII Corps (United States)
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For the VII Corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War, see VII Corps. The VII Corps of the United States Army was one of the two corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II, VII Corps was organized at the end of World War I on 19 August 1918, at Remir

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Photograph of Battleship Row taken from a Japanese plane at the beginning of the attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo strike on the USS West Virginia. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over the USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard.

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A flight of F-15C Eagles from the 18th Wing, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa An F-16 from the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa Air Base, Japan C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 374th Airlift Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

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Clockwise from top: A column of the U.S. 1st Marine Division 's infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir; UN landing at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon; Korean refugees in front of an American M26 Pershing tank; U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon; F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft

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Three Koreans shot for pulling up rails as a protest against seizure of land without payment by the Japanese

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A Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" on a training flight during World War I. This is the type of aircraft used at March Field during this era for basic pilot training of military pilots.

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Boeing P-26A Peashooters of the 17th Pursuit Group, 18 February 1935. 33–102 sits in the foreground. These aircraft were later sent to the 1st Pursuit Squadron/Group of Philippine Air Force in 1937.

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The length of the 141-foot (43 m) wing span of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress based at Davis-Monthan Field is vividly illustrated here with the cloud-topped Santa Catalina Mountains as a contrasting background.

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The Air Defense Command organization was subvided into Air Division units designated for CONUS geographic areas. In 1959 during the SAGE Geographic Reorganization (above), the largest number of subdivisions were planned (the planned Denver Air Defense Sector didn't activate.)

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Artist's impression of the North American XF-108 Rapier

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One of the three Lockheed YF-12A prototypes had Air Defense Command markings (vertical stabilizer nearest center) during 1963 Edwards testing by AFSC's 4786th TS. Using the AN/ASG-18 from the F-108 Rapier program and Falcon missile developed for the F-108A, the Mach 3 interceptor was funded by Congress with $90 million for a 14 May 1965 USAF order of 93 F-12B aircraft (cancelled by SECDEF).

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The Air Defense Command organization was subvided into Air Division units designated for CONUS geographic areas. In 1959 during the SAGE Geographic Reorganization (above), the largest number of subdivisions were planned (the planned Denver Air Defense Sector didn't activate.)

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Artist's impression of the North American XF-108 Rapier

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One of the three Lockheed YF-12A prototypes had Air Defense Command markings (vertical stabilizer nearest center) during 1963 Edwards testing by AFSC's 4786th TS. Using the AN/ASG-18 from the F-108 Rapier program and Falcon missile developed for the F-108A, the Mach 3 interceptor was funded by Congress with $90 million for a 14 May 1965 USAF order of 93 F-12B aircraft (cancelled by SECDEF).

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U.S. Air Force Pararescue personnel assigned to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP), perform a hoist extraction of a survivor during an Urban Operations Training Exercise (UOTE) at the Maltz training site, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003.

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A ram used to push the forward block (motor and dashboard) away from the driver. In this photo the driver's seat can be seen at the right. The steering wheel has been bent upwards, and the driver's door has been removed. The front driver's-side wheel can be seen at left. Driver and front passenger airbags have deployed, and can be seen as piles of white fabric. The Holmatro ram can be seen in the lower portion of the picture.

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Hydraulic cutter in use during a demonstration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City.

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A hydraulic spreader in use, seen here widening a window on the door of a Volkswagen Golf Mk2 to allow fire crews access into the vehicle.

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The close-up view of N93119's front fuselage, showing the 7 plugged windows on the upper deck. These plugs were blown out following the explosion of Flight 800.

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The CIA's animated depiction of how TWA Flight 800 broke apart. When the bottom of the aircraft blew out from the exploding fuel tank, cracks spread around the fuselage and severed the entire front section of the plane.